The Variation of Destiny S2: The Wheels of Destiny
by HappytheExceed
Summary: AU: Sequel to S1 Special. Natsu's destiny had reversed; he was alive but he was losing his magic power. Meanwhile, the evil forces started to make their move with Jellal doubles. Natsu despite his weakening body is determined to inform his friends about the truth of Jellal. But what he doesn't know is that little by little, he's walking into a trap of no return
1. Chapter 1: Soft-hearted demonic teacher

**Coming to S2 finally. Please read at least The Variation of Destiny S1 Special: The Bridge to Variation to understand what was going on in S2.**

**I'm still racking my brain on how to present this. I can't say anything except to ask for your patience for the story is finally cooking. The major plotline will be brought up by the end of the season. Even the scene towards the end is linked to some part in S4.**

**Anyway, from now on, my update is going to be slow since I have to juggle between work and school. Thanks for reading.**

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**Chapter 1: Soft-hearted demonic teacher & apprentice's mission**

The council was having their meeting again. Meetings had been conducted more frequently than before. It seemed that the dark guilds were becoming more active recently. They seemed to be plotting something.

Wizard Saint Jellal Fernandes had been very busy these days. While he was having his usual (it had been happening quite often these days) long meeting, so he sent his apprentice, Natsu out for a little mission which he believed Natsu could get it well done.

* * *

Natsu was feeling really bored. Ever since he joined the Magic Council, all he had been doing was having chats after chats with the Sky Sorceress, Wendy Marvell, cleaning Jellal's office, making tea for Jellal and his colleagues and other mundane jobs.

_"When can I learn magic?"_ Natsu had wanted to scream. He was still recuperating and learning the basic while he was at it. It did not seem to be working. Even though Wendy had been healing him, trying to nurse him back to health, it seemed that it did not help. He was still unable to fully recover his magic power.

***Flashback***

_Natsu had been training on creating fire from zero and Wendy had been cheering him on encouraging him._

_"Perhaps I'm still unable to make fire, which is why teacher doesn't want to teach me magic." Natsu could spit fire alright but he was unable to punch with fire. Natsu was feeling negative about it. "When can I recover my magic?" Natsu sat down panting in fatigue failing to make fire from scratch._

***End Flashback***

* * *

When Natsu was out on his mission, Jellal and Wendy had a closed door meeting after his meeting with the council members. Jellal was checking with Wendy about Natsu's condition and his progress.

"He is still unable to recover his magic?" Jellal looked out from the window. Wendy looked down in despondence.

"I'm sorry. Slowing down his loss of magic power is all I can do now. He will become a normal human sooner or later."

"You don't have to apologise. I should have known better. I'm already aware of it when I tried to transfer magic power to him. I thought someone who is an expert in healing field like you may be able to help him. Thank you for your hard work. Does Natsu know about this?"

"It's his own health, he could feel it. Although he acts as though it is nothing, I can see that he is not taking this well. Jellal has his welfare at heart. I'm sure he will be motivated." Jellal closed his eyes in thought in silence for a while before he answered.

"It doesn't matter whether one is a mage or a normal human. We all go through life and death, there is no exception. "Giving up" doesn't exist in my dictionary. I will not give up on Natsu and of course my ex-wife. Have you heard of a normal human named Mystogan? He relied on magic tools to become an S class mage. Nothing is impossible. I will make sure Natsu become an extraordinary mage like Mystogan of Fairy Tail. " Jellal declared.

* * *

Natsu had reached the designated location for his mission: A magic shop. His mission is to collect a sword named "Sealed flame blade." Walking into the shop, he greeted the shop owner cheerfully. The shopkeeper showed him the sword without having him to ask. That really surprised Natsu. The truth was Tsuna patronized his shop quite often and due to his impatience (That was why he was known as the fastest Fireball).

"Eh?! Isn't that a toy sword? "

_"Why did Teacher (Jellal) ordered this?"_ Natsu asked puzzledly.

"Don't underestimate the sword. Let me demonstrate how it works…" With that he activated the sword. Flame appeared forming the blade of the sword.

Natsu wondered if Jellal had paid for it. He just realized he forgot to bring his wallet along.

"Can I put this to credit? Charge it to Jellal's account." Natsu suggested looking away from the shopkeeper. To his surprise, it was already paid.

"You have already made payment a few days ago when you came to place the order." The shopkeeper grasped his hand and explained.

"Really? Thanks a lot." Natsu thanked him. Deep down he knew who was behind it.

_"It must be Tsuna. He was always forced to pay for Jellal's orders but he mentioned Jellal would reimburse him later"_

Natsu who was playful at heart could not help but try out the sword but he did not expect that the fire disappeared in a puff after playing for a while.

"What?! It breaks just like that?" Natsu exclaimed trying to activate the sword in denial. "Jellal will get mad at me!"

* * *

Back at the office, Natsu handed Jellal the "broken sword". Jellal who sat before his desk folded his arms watching him with a stern look. He could not believe that Natsu would mess up a mission this simple. If it was Tsuna, he would definitely complete the mission perfectly.

Wendy who was still around, smiled apologetically at the duo. _"Did Jellal mess up in his calculation? No wonder Lily didn't want to get involved in his training."_

"And then the sword can't be used anymore?" Jellal questioned Natsu. Natsu stormed off to the door and admitted, "Yes, I will take full responsibility for it. Sorry for the trouble."

"Wait! Take this sword and charge it full. This is supposed to be my gift to my younger disciple. Do not use your magic power to charge, you hear me?" Jellal called out to him and instructed.

"What?!" Natsu scowled. The sword was not actually broken. It was just out of magic.

_"That means it is supposed to be given to me since Tsuna who came in earlier is the elder disciple?"_

Wendy did not know how to react hearing their conversation watching them with a straight face. Jellal did care for his disciple after all.


	2. Chapter 2: Advices to the Strongest Team

**I know there is one fave and one follower to my fic. Thank you for watching and faving my story. ^^ That makes all my effort worth it. **

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**Chapter 2: Advices to the Strongest Team**

As Natsu was working hard to regain his magic power, Lucy was also working hard on her own for a living. This day, she was back in Hargeon port working in a restaurant, "8island" where she often helped out in.

Lucy was looking forward to her future as well as to see Natsu again. Wearing a cute waitress uniform she took orders from the customers.

"May I have your order please?" Lucy smiled brightly but her facial expression turned 180 degree when Happy showed up carrying a mug in a waiter costume.

"Why are you here?" Lucy exclaimed.

"Because we are the strongest team." Happy replied immediately. She got a really bad feeling. If Happy was here, that meant he was here too, her annoying brother-in-law.

"I'm bored today but I want to find a mission which does not require too much strength and earn me the most money. Jellal just extorted 3 million jewels to buy specially made-to-order "toy sword". Even though he will reimburse me, I can't afford to wait until he receives his own pay check. Ciel will kill me before that. Besides, Happy and I often came here to help out anyway. Tsuna walked up from behind to complain about his predicament. "Most importantly, I'm worried because that ice cube came with you. Any guy who took a liking to you has to get past me. Whoever defeats me, will get the Princess of Fairy Tail. I thought this is quite a fair challenge..." Tsuna was slammed by a tray before he could finish.

Lucy was tired to hear the same thing over and over again from Tsuna on her affair especially on her relationship.

"What did you say, little brother? You want a piece of me?" Lucy's jaw dropped, Gray appeared topless with just a ribbon on his neck. Tsuna should watch his attitude. Lucy could well become his sister-in-law before he knew it.

Lucy just facepalmed, "Are they ok?"

"Does it really matter? Both of us often came here to help out. I didn't expect him to be on this mission today too. " Gray came to Lucy's side and whispered. "Why can't you just tell him straight in the face about your relationship with his twin brother?" Lucy just sighed in response. As if Tsuna would listen to what she had to say.

And Titania, Erza Scarlet was here too to their surprise. She was enjoying her job very much. Ever since she got a divorce with Jellal, her life became much easier. She need not watch her etiquette and be herself. Lucy was really shocked at the way she took her order.

"May I have your order please?" Erza sat on top of the table posing, showing off her figure, mesmerizing all the customers. The customers practically nosebleed at her figure.

"We want everything!" They declared.

"That really helps. Thank you."

"You are welcome!" The customers replied in unison.

After the mission, the owner of the restaurant, Yajima, a small bald old man in chef uniform who was sitting on top of a carton wished to talk to all of them. Tsuna, Happy and Gray were sitting opposite of Yajima with Erza and Lucy standing by their sides. Gray folded his arms while Tsuna burped from his meal.

"Thank you for your help today. I need to summon this many of you today as I'm really shorthanded. My wife was already not around and this is the only thing I have from her. How many years had it been?" Yajima scratched his head as he tried to think.

"Six years had passed since Granny left us, Grandpa." Erza replied. Tsuna and Gray were shocked at her response.

"Grandpa!" They shouted in unison. They realized Yajima was Grandpa of Erza? No wonder she came to help him even though none of them had invited her along.

"Erza, I heard that you had broken off with that Wizard Saint husband of yours. You can't be too rash in your decision. I guess my grandson-in-law has a long way to go. Listen to me on this advice. Treasure what is in front of you. Don't regret." Erza pondered on her grandpa's words.

Yajima started giving out his advices to each of them.

"Lucy herself is ok. Leave it to fate. You have no control over it."

"And you two!" Yajima yelled at the two boys. "Especially you, Tsuna… right? You had the worst fate. Young as you are, you already have great achievement but you are too overconfident of yourself. You better take a step at a time, you hear me! If not you will drag others down with you and you are going to regret when you are faced with your greatest fear. As for you, Gray! You like to observe, you shall witness the future unveil itself on your own."

"You will lose out if you don't heed my advices, you hear me, youngsters?" Yajima yelled again to the boys who shook their heads vigorously in unison. "Yes sir!"

"Good." Yajima was pleased at their answers.

With that the group left with a cart. "Thank you for everything today!" Lucy waved at Yajima as their cart took off.

"Goodbye." Yajima nodded at them.

Yajima watched the cart moving out of his sight. Looking up to the evening sky, he thought of his old mate.

"Destiny had variated. Perhaps you are right? Whether this change is for good or for the worse, we can only leave it to the youngster's belief and their luck. I shall look forward to their growth the next time we meet. "

* * *

That night, Tsuna was home with Happy who was asleep after a long day of hard work. Patting the feline covering it with a blanket, Tsuna lay beside the exceed on their bed.

He closed his eyes trying to recall his greatest fear. What was it?

_A memory of a bloody village flashed through his mind as he saw a boy in black whose hands was covered in blood looking at him in regret. He thought he saw a figure of a man with a long beard standing in front of the boy extending his hand to the boy in black who staggered backwards. _

_"No! Don't do it!" He ran very quickly reaching for the two figures. All the sudden, Tsuna saw red._

He woke up in sweat to realize that all is but a dream, a very bad dream indeed. He heaved a sigh of relief to see the cat still asleep. Tsuna facepalm in fear. _"That will not happen again right, mother?"_ He thought looking at his trembling hands.


	3. Chapter 3: Promise by the Sunset

**Well, I made Erza dressed up like Erza Knightwalker for a certain scene required. It was really fun taking the scenes moving around creating a whole new story all together.**

**The subsequent update will not be too soon as I will be busy with my school assignment. **

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**Chapter 3: Promise by the Sunset**

Erza was bothered by what her grandpa had said to her the day before. She offered to accompany Makarov to submit reports to the Magic Council. This day her dressing deviated from the usual. She was in a much more revealing outfit comprising of a revealing, halter-type armor breastplate top with a dark scarf wound over her neck and she also wears a dark bikini bottom with a piece of cloth obscuring her hips. She was hoping she would meet Jellal during the way and catch his attention.

She did catch somebody's attention. The two prisoners who were formally from the Kingdom Empire, Hughes and Sugar Boy came to her. It was seemed as though they were flirting with her. Unfortuantely, they were both not interested in woman. Erza knew very well these two guys were the ones who hurt Natsu. She was almost going to beat them up. They were lucky that Jellal's lieutenant, Pantherlily came by and happened to stop Erza from her feat. They should not create a scene inside the Magic Council.

"We did not flirt with her, just having a little chat." Hughes clarified.

"Both of you are released today. I sincerely hope you guys had repented from your action. Leave from the backdoor! I can't guarantee your safety if you encountered Tsuna of Fairy Tail. Don't let me see you guys here ever again. Leave now!" Lily barked.

"Yes sir!" Hughes and Sugar Boy replied wearily as they walked past the two of them. Lily heaved a sigh of relief. He was just using Tsuna's name to scare them. Who does not know of his accomplishment? More importantly, there was high chance that they would bump into Natsu and he was worried about his reaction if he would to see the culprits who landed him in his current state. Natsu would not be able to take the stress at the moment as according to the Sky Sorceress, Wendy, he was still suffering from the nightmares from the ordeal.

Lily waited for the two guys to leave their sight before he greeted Erza. "Are you ok, Ms Erza?"

"Those two are nothing to me. Why are you here?" Erza replied.

"I'm in charge of guarding the jail nowadays and now I'm in the midst of releasing these two. Oh yeah, I remember Fairy Tail was part of the guilds which defeated them. To think they are being released this early. I really wonder what the higher-ups were thinking. Not even Master Jellal can do anything about it. I will be thankful higher-up will not release the head of the Kingdom Empire. How about you? Why are you here?"

"I'm waiting for Master." Erza hesitated before she asked, "Is Jellal in today?"

"Yes, Master Jellal is in today but he is currently in a meeting. The dark guilds have been on the move increasingly. He is already very busy with his work and on top of that he still need to train his disciple. Luckily, Natsu is very hardworking, there is nothing to fret over him when comes to his training."

"Yes, Natsu is very hardworking but he is still traumatised over that ordeal. Please take good care of him. I believe he will recover very soon. Natsu is his disciple after all. Jellal cares about his face. If Tsuna can achieve S class that quickly, Natsu will be able to reach that level too. By the way, Lily you failed last year because your points happened to be lower than Tsuna right?"

"We will definitely take care of Natsu but he needs to face his fear and get over this. If not, no matter how much effort Jellal placed on him, it will be futile. As for his twin, he is incredible. I admit defeat. I hope that he will not be too complacent as he is still inexperienced. "

Jellal just finished his meeting and happened onto Lily and Erza. "Erza, what brings you here today?"

* * *

Erza's grandpa, Yajima was having a discussion on the Magic Council with the Master of Fairy Tail Makarov. They had been very good friends since they were younger.

Makarov frowned at the thought of the Council decision for judging the two members of Kingdom Empire not guilty for their deeds. "How are they being let off just like this? How are they going to make up for the damage my kid had suffered? Even though it was not noticed on the surface, but I'm aware that my boy had not smiled once from his heart after waking up from coma. I wonder if there is no justice in this world?"

"I don't know what to say. I don't know what is the top thinking? They think nothing is too much trouble for them. At most they will just send somebody to capture them if they commit the same crime again. That is why the dark guilds are becoming more active recently. My former grandson-in-law is really troubled about it. It is ok, he is still young, there is still room to gain more experience. He has to understand that life don't always go on the way we wanted. If he grows up, my granddaughter will change her mind and return to him."

"It's hard on you. You have to take care of your restaurant as well as working as one of the council members at the same time." Makarov commented turning to him.

"Nah! I wish to retire from the Magic Council soon. Looking at the corrupting council, I'm really worried. I wonder if the younger generations are able to handle the upcoming challenges. This is the reason why I can't retire now."

Makarov sighed at Yajima's response. "True, I'm worried about my kids too."

"We can only leave it to their fates."

* * *

Jellal and Erza went to watch the sunset together. Jellal had a weakness. He was really afraid of the heights although it had not been affecting him during his battles but climbing to the top of the mountain was just too much for him. Jellal relented as he wanted to please Erza. He would be leaving for a mission to destroy a certain dark guild soon and he would not have much time. Erza had to pull him up. She was the only person who knew of his weakness.

"You haven't change at all. Still afraid of height." Erza commented watching the sunset. She changed back to her usual outfit. As expected she found very awkward to be around him when she tried wearing something deviating from usual and not lady-like.

"Unfortunately, that is a fact. It's shameful. I admit this is my weakness." Jellal looked down on the ground panting from his fatigue (fear) of climbing a mountain.

"Look, sunset today is beautiful."

"Yes, the sky is dyed scarlet in colour which is just like your hair colour. " Jellal remarked looking at the sunset.

"Shall we come here again?" Erza turned to Jellal who was surprised by her request.

"That's a promise. We will come here again once I return from my mission." Jellal was delighted that Erza was giving him a chance, no matter how high the mountain was, he was willing to climb.

Erza offered her hand to Jellal who took it despite his fear of height. "That is a promise!" With that, they shook their hands as a pledge of their promise by the sunset.


	4. Chapter 4: The Scheme of the Witch

**I decided to update this since it seems short and I have a bit of time off today.**

**Just a reminder, Natsu's family name in this story is "Dragion", why is it so will be explained later in S2. Stay tune. The villain starts to appear in this chapter. What is upcoming and what led her to her action will be explained by S4. S4 is very important in unlocking all the upcoming mysteries. Many were caught in surprise, I wonder about everybody here ^^**

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**Chapter 4: The Scheme of the Witch of Time**

_"One should act like a character he is casted as and as for you: a tool. Meanwhile, we still have use for you. I will be troubled if I lose you at this juncture." Zero mocked as he drained Natsu's magic power from his body._

_"No! Let me go!" Natsu screamed in pain._

Natsu woke up in sweat. It was the same nightmare again. It had been plaguing him for so long. He ran out of his dorm to the training ground where he usually had his training with Wendy watching and support to vent his frustration. He really hated himself for not being able to overcome his weakness.

"It's all your fault. Because of you, I'm landed to this state." Natsu cried to himself.

"Don't make a din here if you call yourself a man. This is so embarrassing. " A voice of a lady was heard.

"It's you?" Natsu sweatdropped when he heard her comment. If Lucy were to learn about this incident, how embarrassing can it be? To think that woman, Ultear, the most trusted colleague of his teacher, Jellal had witnessed this. If Jellal were to know about it, he would be in trouble.

"It is not office hours now. You want me to make tea for you? After that, will you still let my teacher and Wendy knows about this?" Natsu tried to talk his way out of this situation.

"Who knows? It depends on your performance." The woman with a straight-cut long dark purple hair in white kimono-like outfit, Ultear stood up from where she was sitting.

In the whole of Magic Council, Ultear was one hell of a woman Natsu had extreme dislike of. Jellal and Ultear were the best of partners when they worked together. Even though Jellal trusted her, Natsu could not help but he really disliked her. She always put in comments which pulled him down, ordering him around making tea for her as well as cleaning up her office.

"Look here!" Natsu walked up to her. Ultear followed his instruction in reflex and was given a punch right on her face before Natsu sped off.

* * *

"Ahahaha!" Jellal was laughing his head off the next morning.

"I was just being nice and went to take a look at him, but what did I get in return? A swollen face." Ultear complained.

"I'm sorry but I just can't stop laughing." Jellal continued laughing while he wiped off his tears of laughter. "Ahahahaha!"

"Are you done laughing?" Ultear snapped rubbing her swollen face. Jellal stopped laughing.

"Yeah, I had enough. I'm sorry that my disciple had given you so many problems. He is just too simple; I hope you pardon him on that. Please take care of him when I'm away." Ultear almost jumped at his request.

"WHAT?! You wanted me to take care of him? I'm afraid that I will be dead before him. Why did you have to go on the mission at this period of time? You shouldn't have taken him in as your disciple. He is nothing but a liability to the council."

"Please don't say that. I have high expectation on the twins. It's just that I have yet to see the result. I'm pretty sure they will make us proud in time to come. You know that my dream is to uphold justice, to create a safe and beautiful world of magic where people can live freely and happily in. I believe with their feelings towards the people, they will be able to fulfill my dream, so please…" Ultear placed her finger over his mouth to stop him from continuing. She understood his intention.

"I understand. You know my feelings for you. If this is what you want, I will do it for you no matter what it takes. I will take care of that kid for you."

He knew her feelings towards him. The problem was he did not know how he should reject her as it was due to their mutual understanding; they were able to work together very well and complete their missions. Forget it. Jellal would talk to her once he managed to get back together with Erza. Everything would be made clear by then.

* * *

On the other hand, Ultear was planning something in the dark. Hiding in the secret place, she was conversing with somebody with her crystal ball, "Time of ark".

"Don't worry, it is going as planned. Not even the little girl will notice that I had ordered for his food and drinks laced with poison. It will not endanger his life for now. This is to ensure that her healing magic will not work on him. It will affect your plan if he recovers his magic power, isn't it? Let's wait for him to lose all his power before I offer him to you as a sacrifice. I know Master requires a body of a mage with zero magic power. Zero's action previously had made our lives easier. As for Jellal, it is all according to plan; I had a hand in sending him away on a mission in the name of the Magic Council. After this, the only obstacles left were his S class disciple, a mage of Fairy Tail Tsuna Dragion and his ex-wife, Erza Scarlet. "

"Very well, I shall wait for your good news." A mysterious voice spoke up ending their conversation.

Ultear looked up to the grey sky as she thought about her motive.

"Natsu Dragion, if you want to find someone to blame on your predicament, blame it on your teacher. The one who caused you harm is none other than your own teacher! What Jellal owed me; I will make sure he pays me back with interest included. I shall let him have a taste of failure."


	5. Chapter 5: The Moving Wheel of Fate

**I will like to get chapter 5 and 6 which are short out of the way soon. I will update the next one when I'm done with my school assignment.**

**Oh yeah, I had written briefly on the system of the S Class examination for this fic.**

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**Chapter 5: The Moving Wheel of Fate**

In the underground dark prison of the Magic Council, Jellal was talking to somebody in the dark. He was the General aka the puppet master of the Kingdom Empire, Brain related to his upcoming mission.

"What makes you think I will believe you?" Jellal was standing outside of the cell where Brain was held. He folded his arms leaning on the wall opposite his cell.

"Mr Jellal will believe me. You believed in me once and managed to save the life of _that tool_, remember?" Jellal was deep in his thought.

"I'm being held here. What makes you think I will try to do anything funny again? My magic power is sealed as long as I'm in here. I can't harm anybody like this. Besides, I had fought your disciple and thanks to him, I had seen through things. It's strange isn't it? I'm glad that I met your disciple. That's all I know. Take it or leave it."

"Alright, I take your words. I will look into it." Jellal recalled something he needed to remind Brain. He had been rather pissed about it whenever he heard him calling his disciple by that name. "I hope you will watch your words. Natsu Dragion is a life not a tool."

They were discussing about a certain dark guild. They were trying to revive a certain dark mage. The world will plunge into darkness should he be allowed to revive. That guild had released a certain information that they will require a mage with a caliber of a wizard saint as the vessel to revive him. Jellal was going to investigate this for his upcoming mission. He would like to see it for himself what they are up to. He was a wizard saint after all.

* * *

Over at Fairy Tail, people were gathering outside the guild. There was a friendly battle going on between S Class mages, Tsuna and Erza. This was going to be exciting.

Watching the battle, Gray was lamenting about himself not being their match. He told himself he needed to work harder. He just realized that this was also a challenge by Tsuna to Erza and brought up the same old topic to Lucy beside him again.

"Have you told him about your relationship with Natsu? I don't want to be the next person standing in front of Tsuna next time thanks to some misunderstanding involving you."

"You must be kidding me? By the way, if you want to pass your S class exam, you should be of his level or even higher especially you are much more experienced. How do you want to pass it if you don't have confidence at all? Who knows, I may just pass it before you." Lucy retorted. Gray was skeptical.

"You are going to take the exam? I think you better forget it. Wait till you are promoted to A class. Only A class mages are eligible for the exam. By doing enough missions and performing well at it, you should be able to promote to A class rather quickly. But for S class, exam is compulsory and it is only held once a year." Overhearing the conversation, Jet of the Shadow Gear interrupted Gray.

"Hurry up and pass your exam, Gray. You have been an A class for too long. Don't waste your effort and money after attending the Magic School. Even Natsu, a B class mage had been promoted to A class after the incident with Kingdom Empire. A pity that he was losing his magic power. "

"Natsu is promoted? Same as me. I was promoted to A class too." Lucy exclaimed.

"What?! I always thought that you are a C class." Gray commented sarcastically upon hearing that. It seemed that he was unaffected by Jet's words.

Gossipmonger, Happy was watching them. Gray and Lucy were bickering once again. He was getting bored by them. They should hurry up confessed since they seemed to like one another. Tsuna would not object despite picking on Gray all the time.

Turning around, Happy placed his bet on Erza winning the match.

"Happy, shouldn't you cheer Tsuna on? You traitor!" Lucy exclaimed.

"I'm honoured to be able to challenge you. Although you are my master's wife (ex), I'm not holding back. I'm quite aware on your ability. To defend my name as Fireball, I shall defeat you swiftly."

"That's great to hear. Not only that you are his disciple, you are also a genius. Even though people don't think well of you, I shall not underestimate you." With that Erza re-equipped into her Flame Empress Armour.

"That is interesting. I'm all fired up." Tsuna raised his fist on fire preparing to attack and the battle began.

They went at it for some time. Erza felt that Tsuna had improved tremendously as compared to when she fought him once by Jellal's request as a form of his training. Indeed Jellal was right that he had the potential to surpass her and even him.

"Iron Fist of fire…" Tsuna lunged at Erza who blocked his attack but they were stopped by a clap of hands before they can continue. The crowd quiet down as they watched a frog-like creature calling himself as the magistrate of the Magic Council approached the two of them.

"By order of the Magic Council, Fiore Branch, Tsuna Dragion and Erza Scarlet are to report to the Council immediately for the investigation of the disappearance of Wizard Saint, Jellal Fernandes. According to the initial investigation he had met an accident and had disappeared after that."

Erza was unable to react on the news while Tsuna just blurted out his mind, "What did you say? Are you kidding me?"


	6. Chapter 6: Yajima's Worries

**Yeah, I thought chapter 5 and 6 were quite short so just get it done and over with.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Yajima's Worries**

Everyone was worried waiting quietly in the guild. They were worried especially how they were going to console Erza when she returned from the council.

Gray could not believe his ears when he heard about what happened to Jellal. He had known Jellal since the school day and even worked with him in researching on magic. Never did he expect that Jellal who was way powerful than him was met with an accident. Just what had happened?

"Let's head to Era and pick them up." Lucy suggested as she slammed on the table and stood up.

"Are you kidding me? Just travelling there will take us one day. Who knows they may be back when we are on the way to the council. On top of that we are not working there nor are we an S class mage. We are not authorised to enter the council premise. " Gray replied folding his arms.

"Are you suggesting that we will continue to wait here and not doing anything to help?" Lucy retorted. She could no longer take it.

"Everyone shall stay here. Nobody is to move." Makarov who had been sitting in silence had spoken his decision.

* * *

On the other hand, at the council, the council members were having an emergency meeting on Jellal's disappearance. They were deciding on sending Pantherlily out for investigation.

"Pantherlily is taking care of the underground prison. He is unable to get away. " Yajima who was one of the council member involved in the meeting highlighted.

"Other than him, who do you suggest should go? Pantherlily is the strongest member in Jellal's corp. Besides, he is currently only taking care of the Former master of Kingdom Empire, I can easily get someone else from his corp to take over Pantherlily's duty." Ultear commented.

"Ultear has a point there." One of the members agreed with her.

As the chairman was unavailable, Org, the sage of the Magic Council chaired the meeting. He had made his decision. "If that is the case, I shall leave this matter to Ultear to send Pantherlily together with some of the rune knights to investigate the area where Jellal was last seen."

Ultear smiled deviously. Her plan would work. Of course she would get the kid to take over Pantherlily's duty. Yajima looked at her in doubt. He was worried but he could not say anything about it. He was worried about what was going to come. Can their fate be changed?

Yajima walked down the corridor after the meeting ended. He needed to talk to the boy soon. This was the best time to leave the council if he wanted to. Being able to see through the fate of the people, Yajima was aware that the boy, Natsu no longer belonged to this world. He was not supposed to go through all these. He was wondering if it is ok for his fate to be amended.

"Can you tell me, my mate? " Yajima looked out from the window of his office.

* * *

At this moment, someone was plotting something in the dark.

"Are you getting used to it here?" A mysterious voice was heard. A man in hood with his face leaning on his hand sat on his "throne" listening to his next order. Blue hair could be seen from his hood.

"Yeah, I'm getting used to it." The man responded. His voice echoed in the space.

"We had got rid of the nuisance. It's time to proceed to the next stage of our plan. "

"Sure of course, all these were so well planned ahead. I'm honoured to be selected to participate on this operation. I was created by you from his data after all and I'm currently still digesting the information transferred from him. " The man looked up smirking to himself showing his face with a tattoo over his right eye.

"I wonder how are they going to stop me, as Jellal Fernandes?"


	7. Chapter 7: The Confused Youth

**Alright, I'm done with this chapter. There will not be any update for the next week as my schedule was quite tight with my assignment and work. **

**Should I consider the setting of this series to be AU and the character be OOC? The characters are being brought up differently hence their personalities will differ from what was from the original.**

* * *

**Chapter 7: The Confused Youth**

Natsu was working very hard on his training. He had to start a fire from scratch. If he succeeded without using any magic or fire starter, he would have passed the test from his teacher, Jellal who would train him on the use of the Sealed Flame Blade. He had the instruction manual but nothing was better than having practical training.

Natsu just could not believe what had happened to Jellal. In fact he did not want to believe it. He just had great fight with his younger twin, Tsuna who wanted to bring him back to Fairy Tail. Their argument was so serious that Yajima who was looking for Natsu had to stop them.

***Flashback***

_"Brother, are you coming back with me? Teacher is no longer coming back, nobody will be able to teach you magic. You are just wasting your time here. Do you think I have not heard about your condition? There is no way you can master magic even if you worked yourself to death when you are in the process of losing your magic power. You better come home with me!" _

_That was the worst thing Tsuna had done. He had insulted his pride. _

_"I WILL NOT GO BACK WITH YOU UNTIL I MASTER MY MAGIC YOU HEAR ME! YOU JUST WATCH, I WILL MAKE IT. " Natsu retorted angrily. He was determined that he would not return to Fairy Tail until he master his magic no matter what. Even if he returned now, he would be good-for-nothing relying on Tsuna and everyone else anyway. He did not want that. _

***End Flashback***

Yajima shook Erza who was in the daze to take Tsuna back before things get out of hand. The brothers were on the verge of fighting. Erza nodded and dragged Tsuna who was making a din out of it. Yajima watched as both of them left leaving Natsu to him. He could see that Natsu was feeling really desperate. He would have to talk to Natsu.

Taking him to his restaurant, 8island, they had a long chat. Natsu finally blurted out whatever he had in mind about his nightmare and his fears. Sitting on the bench fidgeting, he informed Yajima about a secret no one should know. He felt that he did not belong to this world. Other than his teacher and Wendy, no one cared about him, not even his brother. As he narrated his thoughts, Natsu was on the verge of crying. He hated himself for being weak. It was not like he wanted it. He felt really miserable. What can he do to get out of his predicament?

"Cry if you want to. You will feel better." With Yajima's reassurance, Natsu allowed his tears to fall, tears dropped on the food Yajima had prepared for him. Natsu felt really safe with Yajima's company. At least it seemed that he would not hurt him. He fell asleep soon after on the table. Yajima watched his sleeping face and covered him with a blanket and wiped off his tears.

Yajima was already quite old. Throughout his life he met many people, he had a special ability which allowed him to have a glimpse of others' fate but he just could not see Natsu's. One possibility was like what Natsu had mentioned, he no longer belong to this world. He was not supposed to be alive in this period of time. Yajima understood that there must be a reason why Natsu was here but he must find out on his own. Another possibilty which Yajima had shrugged off was that his future was sealed by somebody to prevent people who had ability like his to get a glimpse of his future.

There used to be a Clan which was obliterated seven years ago had the ability to do that. The Head of the Clan was a beautiful and confident lady who was formally one of a Wizard Saint. She definitely had the ability to do that. He suddenly recalled she had a pair of twins as her offspring.

Natsu was woken up by Yajima's action interrupting his thought. He was really sorry about imposing on him.

"I'm alright now. Thanks for hearing me out." Natsu stood up and prepared to leave. Yajima was glad that Natsu was feeling all better. He wanted to stop him as he remembered what Ultear had planned for him but he hesitated. Come to think of it, if Natsu could overcome his fear, he would be able to overcome himself but...

"Natsu…" Natsu stopped and turned his head to see Yajima with a stern expression. He had something to warn him about. At least he needed to be prepared for what was to come. Natsu's eyes widened when he heard his words.

* * *

"You made it! Natsu-san!" Wendy cheered excitedly as she lifted up the fire Natsu had created. With that, Natsu had cleared the test Jellal had set for him. His hard work had paid off.

Natsu finally smiled for once since he joined the Magic Council. There was a sense of satisfaction. He finally did something which he felt satisfaction from. He could finally train with Sealed Flame Blade given by Jellal. He believed that Jellal would not want him to dwell on his disability and move on with his heads up.

There was a mage in Fairy Tail named Mystogan who was an S class mage despite being a normal human. He was proficient with the use of his magic tools which enabled him to reach the S Class level. Master Makarov was very proud of him when he made it through the S Class exam. Because of that Natsu felt that if he worked hard enough, he would be able to contribute to the public in another way and Master Makarov and Jellal would be proud of him.

Natsu became depressed shortly after feeling happy about his achievement. He regretted not leaving with his brother and Erza after hearing what Yajima had warned him about his next mission. Yajima asked him not to be too worried about it as Natsu would be able to overcome his fear and only Natsu was able to do it for himself.

As soon as Natsu returned to his dorm he was summoned by Pantherlily to be given the official order on that mission Natsu most feared of.

* * *

Natsu reported for duty the next morning. He held his breath as he made his way to his destination.

"I see who that is. Isn't that the disciple of Mr Jellal? So you are the one taking over the job to watch over me huh? It had been a long while since we last met during the last battle."

Natsu really dread to see him. He bit his lips as he faced the most hated man. If it was not for him, Natsu would not be losing his magic power and he would still be in Fairy Tail working hard with his friends. Maybe he would already be going out with Lucy.

At least he would not be forced to watch over him, the Former General of Kingdom Empire, Brain aka Zero.


	8. Chapter 8: The Mysterious Mage

**This chapter was written very quickly. I was able to write while waiting for something XD. **

* * *

**Chapter 8: The Mysterious Mage**

Lucy and Gray were busy observing Tsuna and Erza ever since they returned from the Magic Council. On the surface, nothing had changed for Erza whereas Tsuna was feeling restless.

They watched as Tsuna stormed over to Erza. He was mad at her and her grandfather for poking their noses on his family's affair.

"Why did you have to stop me? I need to wake that idiot up. He is just wasting our time." Tsuna demanded.

"You have no respect to your elderly. Are you going to scold my grandpa as well?" Erza sipped her tea as she responded.

"You can't stop me unless you defeat me!" Tsuna charged at her who just landed a punch on a stomach knocking him out instantly shocking everybody on scene.

"THAT'S IT?!" Lucy and Gray exclaimed in unison.

Erza stood up looking down on Tsuna in a stern expression. "This punch is for your brother. Do you realise that what you had said to Natsu had hurt his pride. Even if your intention is good for his well-being, how do you expect him to accept it? You better make sure you apologise to him the next time you see him, you hear me?"

"Yes... madam..." Tsuna could not believe that he had lost. Everybody just could not stop laughing. Lucy was loss for words. This should be expected as Tsuna was just too inexperienced.

Meanwhile, Makarov was deep in thought as he watched the two in silence. Even though they were summoned to the Council, but not much details was given to them. Just what had happened to Jellal?

Suddenly, people in the guild had fallen to the ground one by one.

_"It's him."_ Erza thought struggling to stay awake as the mysterious mage in mask, Mystogan had passed by her approaching Makarov. She tried to listen to their conversation.

"This is not funny. If you are here, that means..." Makarov was cut off by Mystogan before he could finish. "What are both of you up to?"

Mystogan handed Makarov some thing. "These are some of the information I had found. I will continue my investigation and will return when I find him. Meanwhile, please be careful of what is to come and take care."

The mysterious mage Mystogan left as soon as he finished his business with Makarov undoing the sleep spell casted on the guild.

* * *

Lucy went on a mission with extras tagging along the next day. Apparently it was Tsuna who invited everyone along when he heard that she was going on a mission even Erza.

"I don't understand why you guys are following me for a mission I can handle alone." Lucy whined pulling her luggage hugging Plue. They were on their way back way earlier than expected as they had more people.

"Because we are the strongest team!" Happy exclaimed.

"I'm worried about my sister going out with the ice cube." Tsuna explained.

"Hey, what does it got to do with me when you are the one inviting me along?" Gray demanded. Turning to Lucy, "When are you going to clear this misunderstanding up?"

"I'm sorry, this is my fault. You may punch me." Erza who had been quiet all along spoke up suddenly. Lucy waved at her, "Erza, are you ok?"

At least all of them seemed normal to Lucy. Lucy was glad. She was worried about Erza when they heard about Jellal. Jellal was just missing, not dead. Who knows they would make up as soon as they were reunited. True feelings would reveal in times of trouble.

Lucy could understand as she had been in her shoes except that she was given another chance. Her grandpa's words etched in her mind when the news about Jellal was made known to them. Her granny was the one who granted her wish so there were reasons why she would believe his words: to treasure what was in front of her.

It was not that she did not want to inform Tsuna and Happy about her relationship with Natsu. Natsu had been avoiding this issue since he had woken up from his coma whenever she brought it up. Lucy could not do anything except to respect his decision. She would leave it to fate. She wondered how was Natsu doing now. He had not written her a single letter since he left for the Magic Council.

Her sister, Ciel could see very clearly that Natsu had lost his confidence since he was losing his magic power. Natsu obviously felt that he did not suit her. Because of that, Ciel urged her to take the initiative for the sake of their happiness.

Turning around, Lucy noticed that there were crowd pointing at them whispering to one another.

"They still don't know. Their guild is under attack." Lucy narrowed her eyes after making out their words.

The group was shocked to see that their guild was in ruin. As soon as they charged in, explosion occurred and Makarov fell from the top. He was drained of his magic power and was badly injured. Before he lost his consciousness, he advised Erza and warned against Tsuna not to be rash in their actions no matter what happened.

A figure appeared jumping down to the ground as the smoke dissipated. He was the one who attacked the guild and ambushed Makarov. Both Tsuna and Erza's eyes widened in horror. A man with blue hair with a strange tattoo over his right eye appeared in front of them. They could not believe their eyes.

The culprit was the man who disappeared days ago.

"Jellal?!"


	9. Chapter 9: The Furious Titania

**I can't believe I'm able to update today. If only I have some time to spare everyday to write as I wait. **

* * *

**Chapter 9: The Furious Titania**

Jellal who stood in front of the unconscious Makarov together with Tsuna and Erza smirked.

"Why are you doing this? Jellal?" Tsuna demanded. He could not believe that of all people, it had to be Jellal who hurt their Master. Jellal kept his silence pissing hot-headed Tsuna off. He vanished in an instant when Tsuna charged at him to punch him.

Hologram images appeared throughout the Fiore with Jellal declaring his amibition to the world.

"To the people of Fiore. I, Jellal Fernandes, one of the Wizard Saint from the Magic Council had seen through the system of the world. The world is so corrupted that it is beyond hope." Jellal shown the whole of the country the image of a tree-like tower built in the middle of an ocean. "As such, I shall create a world of freedom starting with the Tower of Heaven. Nobody can stop me, not even the Magic Council."

* * *

The Magic Council were in chaos. Many could not believe what they had seen. The symbol of justice, Jellal had betrayed them. The committee held an emergency meeting to discuss on the contingency plan.

Ultear revealed to the committee members Jellal's motive in joining the Magic Council. He was planning to revive a certain person by using the power of the tower. If that person was allowed to revive, the world would plunge into darkness. He was buying his time in the Council as the Tower is being built for his purpose. The mission he was assigned with would expose his scheme hence, in order to fulfil his ambition; he had no choice but to make his plan known to the world.

"For the sake to save my partner, I don't mind doing anything. Even to fire Etherion on the tower. " Ultear looked down in despondence. The decision was made with the majority agreeing with her proposal to fire the Etherion.

Yajima was the only one who did not agree to her plan. He was suspicious of Ultear wondering what she was up to this time. He had no time to waste. He needed to know.

"Yajima-san!" Natsu and Wendy came to see him. They had heard Jellal's declaration and just unable to believe that the righteous Jellal would have a 180 degree change and even to betray the Council. Natsu questioned his intention for saving his life and taking him in as his disciple if he were to betray the council anyway.

"Let us talk to him." Natsu wished to get his permission to look for Jellal for clarification. "There must be some misunderstanding."

"It's too late! The Council has decided to fire Etherion on him. After that, there will be nothing left." Yajima raised his voice in frustration.

"What did you say? You must be kidding right?" Natsu asked in shock.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the underground prison, Brain was laughing at himself. Like what he told "Tsuna" after they saw Jellal's declaration. The information he had gotten from the mastermind behind him was a trap indeed. Tools which had no use should be discarded. He was a very good example.

* * *

Makarov was sent to Porlyusica's for treatment. His recovery would take some time even though his condition was not as serious as Natsu back then. At that time, Natsu even fell into coma after going into shock due to damages received after being drained of his magic power.

Tsuna, Erza and Gray heaved a sigh of relief. They decided to take action separately. As Erza had heard that Pantherlily had returned to the Council, she decided that she would meet him up to understand the situation while Tsuna would stop Jellal at the Tower of Heaven. Gray decided to follow Tsuna as he was worried.

* * *

The Magic Council had ordered to fire the Etherion on the Tower of Heaven. Erza met up with Pantherlily who was busy stopping Natsu from making a din out of the situation. Natsu was really worked up over the order. He just could not believe that Jellal would betray them overnight and the Council would order his execution without any explanation.

"Let me go, Lily! My Teacher would not have betrayed us. There must be some misunderstanding. Let me speak to the Chairman!" Natsu struggled to break free from Pantherlily. Natsu found himself short of breath as soon as he broke free of Pantherlily. His vision faded and his world turned black.

"Natsu-san!" Wendy shouted when she saw him fell limp on Pantherlily who managed to catch him before he hit the ground. Wendy was aware that Natsu was extremely stressed out and it eventually took a toll on him on his health finally causing him to collapse.

Before Pantherlily could react, he was attacked by Erza. Erza took the chance to take Natsu hostage with her sword on his neck. She hoped to change the Council's mind requesting them to retract the order.

"Erza-san, what are you doing? Let him go!" Pantherlily yelled at her.

"I'm sure you will not want your comrade to get hurt right? If so, please retract the order to fire the Etherion!" Erza made her demand moving backward taking Natsu who was unconscious with her.

"That boy has no value to us. Feel free to kill him as you deem fit. The council's decision is final. You will not be able to change their mind. "All heads turned to Ultear who appeared when Erza made her demand. "If Jellal is to hear that you had killed his beloved disciple, he will never forgive you. And I know you will not be able to do it. He was formally from your guild, he was your comrade." She continued.

"Erza stop it! It's not worth it. Let him go!" Yajima shouted. He was shocked to see Erza taking Natsu hostage.

Erza see no way of getting through them. She whispered to Natsu. "I'm sorry for scaring you. I need to go and save Jellal." With that, she let go of him and ran off quickly before she got cornered.

Ultear stopped the group of rune knights who proceeded to chase after her. "Let her go. We don't have the resource to waste on a foolish woman like her. We have to prepare to fire the Etherion."

Pantherlily who had caught Natsu who was unconscious on his arms glared at Ultear in anger.

He could not believe Ultear who Jellal most trusted did not give him a chance to defend himself.


	10. Chapter 10: The Destined Mission

**I remembered a friend laughing his head off when he read the last part in the original version. I think it is the images which tickled him. This is lame :P**

* * *

**Chapter 10: The Destined Mission**

_Natsu found himself in somewhere he did not recognise, in the wilderness where it was evening in time. Someone was sobbing really hard. Natsu looked around for the source of the cries._

_ He noticed a female with long scarlet hair sitting in front of a huge rock crying really hard._

_ "I'm really sorry." _

_ "Erza?" He called out to her. Erza was found crying really hard. Natsu tried to reach her but she just could not hear him._

_ "Why is she sorry?" Natsu barely recalled Erza apologising to him before this. He reached for her but found his hand passing through her body before the scene changed._

_ Kneeling on the ground, Natsu realised he was in another unknown location. He saw somebody engaging in battle. Their speed was really fast. He saw someone crashing to the ground and his opponent were smirking in the air. They were Tsuna and Jellal._

_ Tsuna was beaten really badly. He was barely conscious glaring at Jellal in defiance. Jellal did not stop his attacks on him._

_ "Tsuna!" Natsu tried calling out to his younger brother who obviously did not notice his presence._

_ He was forced to watch Jellal jumping on him punching him repeatly. Natsu did not know if Tsuna was still breathing. His eyes widened in horror when Tsuna was left unmoving. He did not know if his brother was dead or alive. The scene changed again before he could react._

_ This time, Natsu found himself on the flying ship. He saw a boy in black whom Natsu did not recognise. He had just woken up from his slumber. Natsu could hear him despite his inaudible voice._

_"Lucy..."_

_Natsu watched the boy in doubt. How was he related to Lucy? He did not know why he found the boy really familiar, so familiar Natsu was aware that he knew him deep in his heart. His head hurt so badly that he crouched down holding his head._

* * *

Natsu opened his eyes. He woke up abruptly on his bed. He found himself back in his dorm. He rubbed his aching head.

"Natsu-san, thank goodness, you are finally awake! I had done what I can to heal you. Yajima-san and I are worried sick when you fainted out of sudden." Wendy exclaimed. She was aroused from her nap. It seemed that she dozed off by his bed. Wendy made Natsu lied down on his bed to check him over.

Natsu remembered he fainted back then.

"Is it? Sorry to worry you." Natsu's eyes widened when he recalled what he almost forgotten.

"Was Etherion fired?" He jumped up as he remembered the order from the Magic Council. Wendy sat down beside him thinking on how she should reply him.

"Preparation will take some time before it can be fired. Yajima came to her rescue. He took a deep breath before he added. He wanted to know what their next plan was.

"By the way, Pantherlily had just resigned from the Magic Council. He didn't want to witness the moment. Natsu, what do you plan to do?" Natsu looked down. He had never thought about it. He came here to learn magic from Jellal. His goal can no longer be reached with this happened. He felt depressed being deprived of his goal.

Yajima observed Natsu and patted him on his shoulder to cheer him up. Natsu looked up at him as he revealed something vital in this scheme. "The Jellal you saw is not the real Jellal. He was a double created by a dark guild, in other words, that is a fake. My real grandson-in-law is still missing but I believe he is still alive. After that, it is up to him as this is part of his destiny."

Wendy was excited to hear that. "Natsu-san, shall we look for the Jellal we know?"

"Head to the location when he was last heard. You may just find some clue." Yajima advised. Natsu was getting fired up. He had found a new goal in life. He would find Jellal and go after the fake.

"Thank you. Yajima-san!"

Yajima watched both of them running out. He was aware that the future of Erza and Jellal was gloomy. Perhaps, Natsu whose destiny was unknown to him could change it and prevent the tragedy happening to them. In turn, he could save his younger brother from his dreadful fate too.

Wendy ran after Natsu. "Where are we going to find clues? Lily had left the Council."

"Let's look for him." Natsu gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. "That person may know something."

Natsu led Wendy to the underground prison he was assigned to, where he was assigned to watch over the General of Kingdom Empire. They ran straight to the cell where Brain was held.

"I'm not able to forgive you for what you did to me but I need your help. Can you help me?" Natsu swallowed his saliva when he asked Brain for the favour. He would know where his teacher was right?

Brain noted his determined eye and nodded.

"I didn't expect the tool I made use of will break the jail to release me. Fate is making a fool of me. You are still as naïve as before. Don't worry, I will not trick you. That is what I owe you. I will fulfill my promise to you to take you to your teacher."

* * *

Meanwhile, Tsuna and Gray came to the Tower of Heaven. Taking a glimpse of the tower, no matter what, they need to get Jellal out of the tower before Etherion is fired on it. Tsuna could not believe that his Teacher had betrayed all of them to build a "world of freedom". He clenched his fist as he charged in with Gray following behind.

As Tsuna was the famous Fireball, Gray had problem catching up to him. On the way, they encountered an army of the underlings stationed near the tower. This was expected. Before they were able to meet the Boss, they had to face his minions. They took down the weaklings one by one very quickly.

Gray had noticed that Tsuna was rather distracted. He could see that he was in a hurry and not in his best condition after losing to Erza. On top of that, he was distracted on his regrets of having insulted his brother and hurt his pride. Gray could not afford to have Tsuna to lose his focus at this point of time. He needed to bring him back.

"Tsuna, concentrate on the fights till Erza meet up with us!" Gray put up his fighting stance blocking attacks meant for Tsuna with his ice shield.

"Shut up, ice cube. I need to get to Jellal fast! Go fire!" As usual, Tsuna would not obey him. Tsuna took down a number of enemies before charging straight into the mouth of by a bird-like creature who showed up before they noticed it. Gray watched in horror when the bird swallowed him up.

"Tsuna!"


	11. Chapter 11: The Prey of the Ice Prince

**I happened to find some time today to write.**

**This is a rather short chapter to write for this chapter originally so I tried to extend a little. More background of the characters would be released in subsequent chapters. As I changed some parts of the chapters, I sure hope the plot will be able to link. **

* * *

**Chapter 11: The Prey of the Ice Prince**

"Tsuna!" Gray yelled as he watched him being swallowed up in the huge mouth of the bird-like creature.

"Give Tsuna back!" A flying cat flew over trying to knock the bird down with no avail. The bird spewed fire burning the cat in return.

"Happy!" Gray rushed over to catch the fallen exceed hanging to the bird cage by the side to avoid falling. "Are you ok?" Gray asked the injured cat. It was really rare that Gray would show concern to the gossiping cat. Happy blinked when he opened his eyes.

"Save Tsuna." He begged Gray. Gray realised how badly Happy wanted to save Tsuna from harm. He could understand where he was coming from. "Baka! Shouldn't you be staying with Lucy?" Gray barked and he put the cat down. "Of course I'm going to get the idiot out of the man-eating monster."

Happy smiled weakly. Happy did not want anything bad to happen to Tsuna after what had happened to Natsu who almost lost his life back then. He promised Natsu before he left for the Magic Council that he would watch over Tsuna.

"Burp!" The bird felt full after eating Tsuna up. Gray glared at him furiously.

"Why will I want to release my prey after I hunted it? I can digest the magic power my food possesses and put it to my own use and burn you with his magic." The bird commented. With that he started to spit fire at Gray's direction.

"It seems that I have to force him out of your mouth." Gray decided while enduring the heat of the fire which was burning his skin. If anything bad was to happen to Tsuna, how was he going to face Natsu and his wife, Ciel? With sheer determination, Gray managed to freeze the fire with ice, "Don't you underestimate me!" He yelled. The bird was shocked. How can fire be frozen with ice?

Gray smirked. "You call that Tsuna's fire? Don't joke with me. I'm not the all serious Ice Prince for nothing! " He proceeded clashing with the bird with a heavy punch to knock him off his balance before proceeding with his signature finishing move.

"Ice Blade: Seven Slice Dance!" The bird was seen flew crashing down on the other side spitting Tsuna who was unconscious out.

Happy smiled in relief. Gray was formidable even though he had yet to become an S Class. Happy was really grateful to see Tsuna safe and sound hugging him with his paw.

* * *

On the other hand, Lucy was found walking alone in the wood complaining to herself about Happy who flew off alone. Lucy and Happy were supposed to meet up with Erza who had gone to the Magic Council before joining up with the boys. Happy took off as he was impatient in waiting. Erza was taking too long. Was she able to get them to retract their orders? Gray was going to get mad at her if she did not follow his instruction this time as the mission was dangerous.

"Happy?" Lucy thought she heard something. She made her way out of the woods approaching the riverbank. She almost jumped but stopped herself in time. There she saw Gray and Tsuna on a raft floating on the river.

_"What are they doing here? Shouldn't they be heading to the tower?" _Lucy thought when she saw Gray stepping on Tsuna's head who seemed to be feeling really sick.

"_This is ridiculous! This is not the time to fight among yourselves."_ Lucy screamed in her mind.


	12. Chapter 12: An Angel's joke

**Alright, after this chapter, I can only write the subsequent ones when I'm at home as they are more complicated to write quickly. Did anybody expect this? Even though Oracions Seis characters are going to play a minor role but they are quite important to explain Brain's motivation later.**

**Natsu is portrayed as a weaker character but he will develop. The story is built around him. **

* * *

**Chapter 12: An Angel's joke**

"Gray, what are you doing? Shouldn't you be going to Tower of Heaven with Tsuna? Why are you guys fighting here?" Lucy shouted at him after being annoyed at his behaviour, to have his foot on Tsuna's head. Before he scolded her for not meeting up with Erza, she might as well take this chance to cover up her blunder.

"I'm currently settling things with this boy. Please don't disturb me, woman. You know I can't see eye to eye with you." Gray responded darkly and he continued trampling on the boy. Lucy summoned Sagittarius immediately to stop him with his arrows. This was too absurd. Gray would not do that to Tsuna no matter how much he disliked him right? That was so unlike Gray.

Lucy turned her head to see Tsuna. He was in agony. Lucy heart ached to see him lying on the raft unable to do anything to defend himself. This was not right. That was so unlike Tsuna. Tsuna would not be weak on something like this on a raft, on transportation. Lucy sweatdropped. Lucy came to a realisation that he was not Tsuna but Natsu.

***Flashback***

_ Natsu was separated from Wendy and Brain who were moving faster than he was. He fell for the trap when he was trying his best to keep up with them. It was very inconvenient not to be able to use magic._

_Natsu was forced to face Jellal's underlings alone on the way to catch up with Brain and Wendy who flew off with Charles, an exceed like Happy. Charles was a female white exceed. She was Wendy's best friend just like Happy was to Natsu._

_Natsu had lost too much power by then and was no longer able to even spit fire. He realised he had finally become a normal human without magic. Natsu could no longer keep up with them. Taking out his Sealed Flame Blade, he decided to try his luck but he was taken out quickly instead and was sent off flying. How pathetic can he get?_

_He got up in pain after crashing down at somewhere unknown. At least he seemed to be safe now with no one coming after him. He realised he had lost his only weapon from the battle. He was going to get it from Jellal for losing the sword when he learnt about it. Natsu stood up and tried to look for direction. Sliding down a slope, that was when he found Gray who was unconscious floating on the river. Natsu was did not expect to see Gray. He hobbled to his side to check on him. Little did he expect that it was a trap and he was not Gray. By the time, he realised it was a trap when "Gray" flashed him an evil expression. It was too late. He found himself on the floating raft of which to his horror, his weakness, a transportation._

***End Flashback***

"Lucy…" It took him great effort to even greet Lucy before he puked again.

A lady in white came into view. Her outfit made up of white feathers. She was known as Angel, one of the members in the famous dark guild Oracion Seis.

"Isn't that a member of a light guild? Gemini, you have gone too far with your trap. We are here to pick Brain up, not too pick a fight." With that "Gray" reverted to its original forms, they were transformed from Gemini, a Celestial Spirit that is one of the twelve Golden Zodiac Keys.

"We are sorry." They danced around where Angel stood.

Angel looked at Lucy suspiciously and she spoke up, "What are you doing here? Don't you know it is dangerous here?"

"You have gone too far with your joke." Lucy cried in response pointing at poor Natsu who was puking hard on the raft.

"I'm sorry. I'm just following instruction to deter unauthorised people from passing through, especially normal human and a little kid like him. I will retreat for now, you can take him home." Angel left waving her hands and left the scene.

Lucy was hopping mad in anger. How rude can she get? Lucy turned to Natsu who was calling for her to help him while puking.

"Lucy…"

It pained Lucy to see Natsu suffering like this in agony. She struggled through the river to reach for him. "Natsu, I'm coming to get you now."

When Lucy was about to reach his hand, the rope which connected the raft with the rock snapped and Lucy fell on top of Natsu from the impact. The raft was washed away with the flow of the river, it was a current. Soon they reached where end of the stream was. Lucy watched in horror that they had reached the top of the waterfall.

Looking at poor Natsu whose head was spinning from the motion sickness, she recalled the promise to herself. She had lost Natsu once, and this time she was not going to let go of him. With that, she tightened her hug on Natsu as they fell from great height.

_"It's ok, Natsu, I will protect you."_


	13. Chapter 13: The Sky Sorceress' Doubt

**Hoohoo! I managed to complete another chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 13: The Sky Sorceress' Doubt**

Wendy, Charles and Brain headed separate ways from Natsu. Wendy was worried about Natsu.

_"Will Natsu-san be ok?" _

***Flashback***

_The group was running to the location where Jellal was last heard. In order to reach Jellal as soon as possible, Natsu who realized that he could not keep up with them, suggested to Wendy to move on without him. _

_"Finding Teacher is our top priority. Don't worry about me; I will catch up to you. Besides, I can still fight by spitting fire, if not; I have the Sealed Flame Blade with me and I'm a disciple of a Wizard Saint remember?" Natsu flashed Wendy a huge grin urging her to move on. Wendy was really reluctant to leave Natsu alone considering his current condition. He would not last very long if he was to encounter enemies on the way._

_"Let's not waste time, you two. " Charles who was worried about Wendy came along with them. "Wendy got into trouble thanks to you. It's still ok to leave without permission but to think Wendy collaborated with you to break the jail. This is unbelievable!" Charles complained. She want to get it done and over with. To find Jellal so that Wendy could clear her name._

***End Flashback* **

Wendy, Charles and Brain reached a dark cave where he had contacted his real guild "Oracions Sei" to meet up with him.

As the guild name suggested, including Brain, they had six members onboard. The very first one to greet Brain was Racer, the supposedly fastest man in the guild who was said he might be on par with Tsuna in terms of speed.

"As expected, you really managed to get out of the jail. I almost thought you are done for this time." Cobra remarked while patting his huge purple pet snake.

"I already dispatched the trespassers around this area." Angel, the celestial mage of Oracion Seis reported. _"I sure hope that woman take the kid and leave the area. That kid is too weak." _

"The Magic Council is going to fire that thing soon." Hot Eye, a mage who had a body of geometrical forms with sharp angles updated the guild.

Brain nodded. His primary concern was the location of that thing. "What about him?"

Racer brought out a coffin in response. "Here it is. He was not the right vessel you mentioned. This was a trap. They are only interested in cloning him." He released the seal of the coffin revealing Jellal who was unconscious and chained up.

"Jellal!" Wendy's eyes widened at the sight of Jellal who had been missing appearing in front of her eyes.

"I thought so. Now we need to heal him. I have something to ask him. " Brain said.

Brain had his reason for helping them which he had only mentioned to "Tsuna" once as he respected Tsuna who reminded him the existence of love between human and defeated him with that.

Brain used to be a part of a dark guild who had been experimenting with dark magic. He joined them to earn a living. He was in charge of experimenting and studying dark magic.

His youngest son who was a capable mage himself had become a sacrifice to an experiment which failed. He had opposed to the idea of having his son as an experiment subject to obtain the use of a lost magic but a colleague had betrayed him and ended up sacrificing his son. Brain had tried to seek help from the Magic Council but it proved to be pointless. Brain fell in despair when he heard of his son's death. Because of this, he understood how sinister the human could be. His other personality, Zero was awakened during this period and he began his quest for revenge.

Brain was aware that he was blinded with hatred when he drained Natsu of his magic power and even went to the extent of using Organic Link Magic on him because he had learnt that he would be cruel to himself if he was to show mercy to his enemy. Who would show his son mercy? He wanted the Magic Council and the light guild to reap what they had sown to suffer what he had went through.

Brain did not expect that "Tsuna" who he had narrated his story to was actually his twin brother Natsu whom he had imprisoned and tortured during his time in Kingdom Empire. He was still unable to distinguish between the twin brothers.

Brain would not ask for Natsu's forgiveness for what he had done to him physically and mentally.

This time, he used his archive magic to contact the guild his elder son had formed, Oracion Seis. He was also a member of the guild and this was the guild he most trusted. His son, Midnight had received words that he was being tricked and he led his guild to this area for investigation, and that was where they found Jellal who was ambushed and badly injured.

"I didn't think that you are still thinking of avenging your younger son to be leading the Wizard Saint to this restricted area. You are lucky that we happened to be around when we found him who was already half-dead. The Magic Council is firing Etherion on this area anytime. What shall we do? We need to retreat if we want to get out of here alive." Racer added.

Wendy was overwhelmed by the vulnerable sight of Jellal. This was the work by an unknown dark guild? Even Jellal who was a level of a Wizard Saint was not their match? Brain walked to her to check with Wendy on Jellal's condition. "How was he? Can you heal him? I need him to tell me what he had found out."

Wendy recalled her meeting with Jellal when she was younger. He had saved her when she got lost in the wood. They had spent some time together while Jellal looked for direction to take her home.

Years later, Jellal went to the Magic School and he became a Wizard Saint. Wendy was not bad either. She did not take long to pass her S Class exam becoming the youngest S Class mage in existence. She reunited with Jellal when she joined the Magic Council and because of Natsu's condition, they were able to keep in contact more often.

Speaking of Natsu, there was something she did not understand. She did not understand why Natsu was unable to fully recover despite her effort in treating him. This might not be related to Zero and Brain as she hoped. They could not reverse the effect. Natsu's body was no longer able to accept magic power. That was just one part of it. The other was related to Natsu's health. His health had deteriorated due to all the stress he had been enduring during this period but there was something which was preventing her healing magic to work on him but she was not able to point out what it was.

She decided that she would ask Brain about it after making sure that Natsu was not around to hear her. Brain might know something about it. It would not be nice if Natsu had heard this conversation. That was why she always had a closed door meeting with Jellal when they were discussing about Natsu and his condition.

"Sure, after this I will like to check with you on something."

"Deal." Brain replied.

Wendy lost her consciousness as soon as she healed Jellal. Due to the severity of his injuries, she spent too much magic power on healing him. Jellal had regained his consciousness. He glared at Brain blankly and seemed to recall something and Jellal took him by surprise by attacking him before taking off. He had something he needed to do.

* * *

Meanwhile, Erza did not see Lucy and Happy at the meeting point and she ran off. Erza was worried. She had no time to waste. She needed to find Jellal and take him with her before firing of Etherion.


	14. Chapter 14: The Return of a Comrade

**I'm working to improve on the presentation of this fic. I agree that I need to amend my summary badly. I'm not sure if I can extend the chapters longer though but I will do what I can. Thank you for all the advice. **

* * *

**Chapter 14: The Return of a Comrade**

"Wake up, Lucy. How long are you going to sleep here?" A voice of a male was heard. Lucy could vaguely make out the voice.

"Gray?" She blinked and slowly opened her eyes. Lucy realised that she was in a cave. How did she get here? To think she had to see Gray's irritating face when she woke up from her sleep instead of Natsu.

_"Where is Natsu?"_ Lucy looked around frantically but was cut off by Gray and his annoyance at her failure of completing her own mission.

"I thought I ask you to meet up with Erza? Why are you even sleeping here?"

"I… " She wanted to ask if Gray had seen Natsu around but she decided to change her mind instead. _"Was it just my imagination? Natsu should not be here." _

"What about you? Aren't you supposed to be with my Brother-in-law?"

Before Gray could answer her, they heard noise coming from the other end, both of them rushed over and found a little girl who was unconscious with a white cat trying to wake her up.

"That is an Exceed like Happy?" Lucy exclaimed

"What happened to her?" Gray asked the white Exceed.

"Wendy collapsed as she had exhausted too much of her healing magic. I had reminded her not to overdo it but she won't listen." The Exceed known as Charles explained. Gray cradled her trying to wake her up. "Hey! Are you ok?" He asked in concern.

Wendy stirred. She struggled to open her eyes and sat up. She looked crestfallen and she started crying shakily. "I'm sorry. I'm of not help at all. I can't cure this poison."

Lucy and Gray did not understand what was going on. _"Did something happen to her?" _They watched as Wendy continued mumbling to herself what she knew. "The Jellal up there is a clone. I believe the real Jellal is going after him to stop his plan, if not, I don't know what is going to happen if the clone succeed."

"What did you say?" Gray and Lucy's eyes widened in shock. Jellal who ambushed their Master was a fake.

At this moment, they heard footsteps running towards their direction.

"An enemy?" Gray exclaimed in battle stance. Lucy prepared herself for what was coming but what they saw was a salmon haired boy charging in screaming for help.

"Help! Wendy, help! The fire is intense. I can't believe I can create a fire like this ever again. Let me show you." He stopped when he saw a familiar face who was obviously watching his one-man show right in front of him.

"Isn't that Gray?" The boy pointed right at him with his eyes popping out. Gray could not help but to tease him, "Here comes a boy who can't stop making noise and who can't stop scaring us like his younger brother is." Gray could easily differentiate between the Dragion Twins. Gray was glad to see him full of energy. At first he was worried as the boy seemed to be depressed over the loss of his magic power.

"Lucy, when are you going to let Tsuna know about your relationship with him? If not I will get this boy who can't seem to get it together to tell him instead. It's between the two of you so it doesn't matter who tell him." Lucy rolled her eyes. Gray was the one who could not get it together. He was still yapping about it.

"You guys are here?" Natsu exclaimed. "And Gray! Why did you trick me?" Natsu recalled the raft incident.

"The person who tricked you is not Gray." Lucy explained on Gray's behalf.

"What?" Natsu cried in response. The boy's mood changed so quickly that he changed the subject.

"Lucy, did you save me?" He scratched his head.

"Did you just realize it?" Lucy asked as she sweatdropped. That was just like Natsu.

"I'm just too happy to see Lucy." Natsu blushed when he said that.

"Ahh!" The little girl behind watching them just realized something. "I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Wendy. Wendy Marvel. I'm from the Magic Council. Nice to meet you." She bowed to Gray and Lucy who she first met. Lucy and Gray who would like to introduce themselves was interrupted by the hyper-energetic Natsu.

"And Gray, why are you here?" Natsu was surprised to see him.

"I'm here of course to stop Jellal and to get him out before Etherion is being fired." Gray replied but frowned in dismay when the boy rushed off excitedly to Wendy. Gray found himself translucent, who could easily go unnoticed.

It seemed that he was being ignored by the twins. He had collapsed earlier after the battle with the bird-like creature and realized that he was left behind by Tsuna and the gossiping Exceed. To think he had rescued him from being eaten. How ungrateful could he be? On the way to catch up with him, he found his blonde comrade who was sleeping out there.

"Wendy! I can use magic. I can fight again." Natsu cried in excitement. Wendy was doubtful despite smiling at him in response. She wanted to check with him on something but noticed that he had run off to greet Lucy. Natsu kept shaking Lucy telling her that he had recovered his magic power cheerfully.

"Lucy~ I had recovered my magic finally~".

* * *

On the other hand, Brain had left with Cobra accompanying him. He looked out to the dyed red scenery in front of him and commented to himself.

"That tool had undying determination just like my younger son who was sacrificed. I will respect your decision if this is your choice. There is no room for regret."


	15. Chapter 15: The Light of Etherion

**And five more chapters and a special to the end this season. **

* * *

**Chapter 15: The Light of Etherion**

The former Master of the Kingdom Empire was looking at the dyed red scenery from the Tower of Heaven. It was a masterpiece indeed. Cobra who accompanied him was feeling really restless. He decided to ask him breaking the silence between them as he could not understand why he would help the kid.

"Is it ok to let the kid do as he pleases?" Cobra did not expect his response. He did not need to report to him anyway.

"I'm sure you had seen his determined eyes. This is his choice. Thank you for your help. That was as much as we can do to help him." Brain replied while looking up at the red sky. It was in the evening.

Cobra glanced at his pet snake before he commented. "As expected from our Brain, to think you had thought of countering poison with poison. "

"I only realized it when I saw the poison acting up on the "tool". I saw the woman, Ultear Milkovich, the woman who instigated my son to participate on the experiment, on the way of leaving the council. I knew instantly that it was her doing. The poison is slow in its effect, once the victim started taking in the poison, he has to consume the antidote daily to cover up the effect. I believe the "tool" has yet to take the today's dosage when he left the council which is why the poison in his body starts to act up. "

He recalled when they found Lucy and Natsu lying unconscious right outside the cave they were in. He turned the boy over and realized he was trembling and grimacing in pain. His face was pale white and dark circle had formed around his eyes.

"That's how we realized he was poisoned. It is the answer to the sky sorceress's suspicion. Even a sorceress with high healing ability was unable to counteract it. That is how potent the poison is. The poison had blended with the remnant of his magic power to stay in his body causing him pain. All we can do now is to counter poison with poison to slow down the effect of the poison by allowing him to release the remnant of his magic power. The worst scenario is..." Brain explained in detail but stopped to take a deep breath. He had underestimated the "tool".

"I had warned him about it and he had made his choice." Brain stamped his staff lightly on the ground as he finished, recalling Natsu's plea to him.

***Flashback***

_Cobra carried Natsu who was weakened from the effect of the poison out of the cave after Wendy had collapsed from exhaustion trying to heal him. They had left unconscious Lucy at the back. Brain tried not to hurt the boy who had suffered on his hands back then. Before they tried anything else to help him, they needed to check with him because it was too risky. _

_"I don't care what is going to happen to me. Just do it. I need to save my friends." Natsu gave him a fierce glare to show his determination._

***End Flashback***

"Looks like you had become soft, aren't you? Trying to be a good guy." Cobra could not help but commented on his change sarcastically.

"You will have to thank his twin for it." With that the two men await what was going to come. Brain wanted to know what kind of role the Natsu will play considering that the mastermind had him involved in this. They were going to see through this to the end.

* * *

In another part of the Tower, a man was working to stop the system the enemy was using on their experiment. The only way to do it was to use a vessel of a mage with a power of a Wizard Saint. He would do everything to stop them from reviving the dark mage.

"Jellal, what are you doing?" Erza cried out. She caught the sight of the man she was so familiar with on the way to the top of the tower. She did not know the detail but she knew he was trying to do something dangerous. She needed to stop him from whatever he was doing.

Erza was stunned to see Jellal who turned his head towards her. He was in distress, a sight Erza had not seen before coming from Jellal. He cowered as he apologized to Erza. "I'm sorry. Due to my carelessness, it ended up this way. I have no words to explain. All I can do is to use myself as a failed vessel to destroy their system. I'm glad to be able to see you again before my death. I guess we are not meant to be after all. I'm sorry for not keeping to our promise. Let's meet again the next life. Erza, I love you."

_"To save you and the world you are living in, I need to do it."_ Jellal thought to himself as he fell on the ground on his back.

Erza ran to his side. Her eyes widened in fear when saw the magic circle he had drawn on his body. "Magic circle of dissemination?!" She needed to think of something to get Jellal to cancel the spell. If not, he would really die.

"No, Jellal!" She shook his body. "Look at me! This is the only failure you had been through. It's not the end of the world. You can give up like this. If you give up, what will happen to Natsu? You know he had been waiting for you to teach him magic right? Even though it might be hopeless, he has yet to give up. He was still living to the best he can be and he is still smiling even though you know he is faking it. Why did you give him hope and taking him in as your disciple if you are going to die like this? Did you think he is so naïve for you to make a fool of? " Tears started flowing down her cheek.

"More importantly, we are husband and wife right? We are supposed to face all the difficulties together. The Jellal I'm married to is high and almighty. He isn't supposed to give up easily. Please! Please live on at least for my sake. You are the most important person in my life. I will never forgive you if you break you promise to watch the sunset with me." Erza cried pouring out all her feelings towards Jellal finally.

* * *

On the other hand, the Magic Council was ready to fire the Etherion.

"With this my wish will come true." Ultear murmured to herself. _  
_

A series of magic shapes appeared around the cannon forming the main beam which was targeted at the Tower of Heaven afar. A blinding light was shot out at the target, annihilating all in path.

"It's coming." Jellal's double smirked in satisfaction when he saw the light from his "throne".

Tsuna who was making his way up the tower blocked his eyes from the blinding light. _"Am I too late?"_ He thought to himself.

Meanwhile, Jellal and Erza were blasted off from the impact. Their surrounding had collapsed when the beam hit the area.

"Erza!"

"Jellal!"

Their hands were desperately trying to reach for one another when their world turned white.


	16. Chapter 16: Natsu's will

**I added a paragraph as a hint which is linked to a revelation in S4.**

* * *

**Chapter 16: Natsu's will**

Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Wendy and Charles watched from in a distance as the light of the Etherion hit the target. Instead of having the tower destroyed, the form of the tower changed after the attack. The metal surface had disappeared and in place of it, was a crystal-like structure with just one main trunk of Lacrima shooting up to the sky and a few branch-like crystals protruding unevenly from it.

The group was actually relieved especially Natsu. He was worried about his brother who was likely to be on the Tower the moment the Etherion was fired on it. Wendy could very well observe his change of expression.

She felt very uneasy. How was he able to stand here? She knew he would not answer her honestly if she asked him directly. The only way to know was to ask Brain and Cobra who had left abruptly after she fell unconscious and even Jellal if that was possible. What exactly Brain did to Natsu? Wendy pulled Natsu to one side to inform him of her decision. She did not intend to let him know her plan.

"Natsu-san, I intend to search for Jellal. Meanwhile, don't do anything reckless and strain your body if you are not feeling well." Wendy was very worried when she saw Natsu in pain earlier in the cave when he was found and she was feeling very anxious trying to help him feel better.

"Don't worry, Wendy. I had gotten enough rest earlier and I'm feeling a lot better. See!" Natsu reassured Wendy. He was well aware that he would be stopped from looking for his younger brother if she known of his condition.

***Flashback***

_Despite feeling energetic announcing to Lucy and Gray about his recovery, he did not feel well. In fact his vision got blurry from time to time from the effect of two types of poisons running through his body. "I need to hang in there, just for a while. Just for a while." Natsu slapped himself on his face to stay awake. _

***End Flashback***

"Alright, I shall bid farewell to everyone here. Good luck, Natsu-san." With that, Wendy took off with Charles in search of Brain and Cobra.

* * *

Not saying any words after Wendy had left, Natsu ran off aiming for the top of the tower to go after his younger brother. Gray and Lucy chased after him when they saw him running off. Natsu reminded himself that he would just focus on climbing to the top and nothing else.

"Natsu, wait!" Gray yelled at him to slow down. Lucy was trying her best to keep up with the boys in front. The group was climbing from the surface. All the sudden, Natsu heard a voice ringing in his mind.

_"I'll lend you my power, Natsu." _Natsu shivered when he thought he saw a sadistic smile in his mind. He felt light-headed all the sudden and he lost his balance.

He was stunned when he found himself falling from great height.

"AHH!" He yelped.

"Natsu!" Gray and Lucy cried in unison when they saw him falling. Gray realized he would not be able to reach his hand on time. His eyes widened in fear when he saw his friend falling and disappearing from his sight.

"NATSU!"

"Here I come!" A voice was heard from afar. A figure sped up and caught Natsu on time. To Natsu's surprise, it was Happy.

"Happy!" Natsu turned behind to greet his saviour.

"Long time no see, Natsu." Happy greeted Natsu and flew him around.

"This is so cool! You are my hero." Natsu commended the blue Exceed.

Gray and Lucy heaved a sigh of relief. "The two brothers are going to scare me to death sooner or later." Gray commented while Lucy smiled apologetically.

"It had been a long time since Natsu and I become one with the wind. It feels great, isn't it?" Happy asked Natsu who agreed with him. "Yeah, it had been a long time. This feeling is just so wonderful!" Natsu looked ahead.

* * *

They landed somewhere where Happy could talk. "Tsuna said he is going up to face Jellal alone and suggested that I find you guys to see what you guys are doing. I didn't expect to see Natsu here. Natsu?" Happy glanced at Natsu who was staring into space.

Natsu was full of worry. What was his brother thinking when he kept Gray away from him?

_"Damn! He didn't know Jellal up there is a fake." _Natsu recalled the dream where Tsuna suffered an utter defeat against "Jellal".

* * *

On the other hand, the committee did not expect things to turn out this way. The tower was not destroyed but had "evolved" by absorbing the power of Etherion. That was when they realized they had been tricked. Yajima approached Ultear to demand for an explanation when he noticed that the building was collapsing and she was the culprit.

"Time of Ark!" Ultear turned to Yajima's direction. "They are going to be there. The rest are up to you. Proceed according to plan, because you can do it, Jellal." "Jellal" over at the top of the tower had heard her via telepathy.

"Understood. I, Jellal will accomplish this mission." He sat with his hand on his chin. He was currently facing a woman with a hair of scarlet glaring at him in fury. "Come at me, Elsa!" He smiled evily.

The Council had fallen. Despite this, the Sage of the Magic Council. Org did not lose his composure.

"Send reinforcement to take the tower down and take in those involved in custody."

* * *

Natsu and the group noticed the arrival of the reinforcement from The Magic Council. It seemed that they would capture anyone involved in this operation in sight. He did not wish to be stopped here. He needed to get to Tsuna fast. Gray saw his worried expression and understood his fear. He had thought Tsuna had matured but it seemed that he was wrong. That boy was still as reckless as ever. Tsuna was the younger brother of Natsu after all. They were one of a kind.

"Natsu, go ahead." Gray patted him in the shoulder. "We will hold them back here. Look for Tsuna and bring him back. I'll be letting you down should anything bad happened to him."

Natsu blinked at Gray in surprise. He did not expect Gray to offer to help him. He put his hand over Gray's as he responded trying to reassure Gray that Tsuna would be alright despite his worry. He did not want them to get them involved with his problem.

"Don't worry about him. He is more powerful than anyone of us here." Natsu grinned at Gray. He was really grateful to have his friends around him supporting him. If he had a choice, he would not leave Fairy Tail. He turned over to Lucy who was behind Gray and approached her.

"Lucy…" He gave her a small peck on her cheek causing the celestial mage to blush madly. Gray averted his eyes pulling the Exceed by his wings and left the couple alone while they keep a watch for incoming enemies.

"What is this?!" Lucy replied in panic. Natsu scratched his cheek blushing. Since when he had the gut to do that? He gave her an assuring smile coming from his heart.

"Perhaps, this is my last chance to do so. I will account for my feeling towards you. I like you. I really do." He pulled her into a hug. "Lucy, after today, please look for your happiness. I'll give you my blessing no matter where I'm." Natsu moved to her ears and whispered something which made Lucy shuddered in bewilderment. _"I'm grateful for Granny to give me this chance to be with you even if it is for a short time." _Natsu pushed her away when he finished, taking off before Lucy could react.

"What is this?" Lucy felt empty. _"Natsu, you will come back after this right?"_

Gray who was watching out for the rune knights from the Magic Council when Happy was taken by surprise but he managed to dodge their attack on time. They had been found.

_"Looks like Natsu had gone ahead."_ He thought when he saw Natsu's running figure far ahead and Lucy was watching behind.

"Lucy, stop staring into space. Come and lend us your hand!" He ordered as group of knights had already surrounded him. Gray took his position and prepared to engage them.

* * *

Natsu was in tears after he ran off. He knew about the Granny who granted Lucy her wish for Natsu to live on. He did not belong to this world. Besides, the poison in his body was incurable. All he could do was to request Brain to slow down the effect of the poison granting him some time for him to do something.

_"There is something I have to do and only I can do it. I will change their fates. Wait for me!"_


	17. Chapter 17: Master VS Apprentices

**I had changed the title as the original title does not sound natural in English. Writing battles is not my specialty. Pardon me for lack of detail. **

**In the original version I needed to consider the use of the scenes to differentiate between Natsu and Tsuna when they battled Jellal. I decided to differentiate with their outfit. Tsuna wears the vest while Natsu gets a T-shirt. **

* * *

**Chapter 17: "Master" VS "Apprentices"**

Tsuna panted hard. His head felt heavy. He was supposed to reach his Teacher before the firing of Etherion. Even by the name of Fireball, was he too late? Tsuna had regained his awareness. He had sent Happy away to check on the others in order not to get them involved.

He looked around and realized that his surrounding had changed into crystal-like structure. His eyes widened when he found his Teacher standing right in front smirking at him.

"I had been waiting for you. I thought S Class mage of Fairy Tail Tsuna, the Fireball would reach me before the firing. Looks like I had overestimated you. I had disposed of the foolish woman who somehow got here due to the impact of the Etherion to kill time while waiting for you." "Jellal" pointed at a fallen figure at the side.

"Erza?" Tsuna yelled. His fist was burning.

"Why? Why did you do that? Why did you betray everyone? Betray Erza? You even cheated my brother? All these for the sake of your so-called plan of freedom? " Tsuna was burning in fury.

"Well well… I see that you are angry at these trivial things. All these are just as transient and short-lived. That woman is just foolish. In order to please me, she will act like a lady. But I must applaud her for she is smart enough to get a divorce. Speaking of idiot, your brother is most idiotic of all the mages I had known of. I had never seen someone so dim-witted to the extent that he will even screw up a simple mission to collect my order from a shop. Sometimes, I really wonder how he brought you up." "Jellal" remarked sneering at him. This time he really had gone too far with his insult. Tsuna could not believe his ears.

"What did you say? You better retract your words. You have no right to insult Erza and my brother!"

"Depending on your performance, I may consider. Come at me. Let's turn your training into actual battle!" "Jellal" raised his hand beckoning Tsuna to take him on. Tsuna accepted the challenge without hesitation.

Tsuna came charging at him upfront giving him waves of punch and kicks of which "Jellal" dodged at ease. He knew his movement too well. There was no way he would be hit. "Jellal" thought as much until he was caught in surprise when Tsuna landed a punch on his stomach and used his head driving him crashing against the Lacrima across the arena.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Tsuna spit fire at "Jellal" before he got a chance to retaliate. He knew very well he should not underestimate his Teacher who was a Wizard Saint. He jumped back and landed on his feet using one of his hands to balance himself while waiting for the smoke of the explosion to clear off to see if he had succeeded.

"Jellal"'s voice rang out as the smoke cleared. Tsuna looked up cautiously.

"Just as I thought. According to the information in my head, you are reckless in battles despite being an university graduate. Did you pass your S Class with brute force like this? Don't make me laugh. To think you have yet to progress since then. As expected, you are just as self-conceited as me. Facing me alone is a grave mistake. I know you too well because I'm your Teacher!" "Jellal" flung out his burning coat and he lunged at him at blinding speed.

"Heavenly Body Magic?" Tsuna noticed that "Jellal" had vanished and he was being plummeted blows after blows repeatedly by his Teacher.

"Grand Chariot!" Seven magic seals appeared before "Jellal" which then blasted at Tsuna resulting him to fall from the impact of the explosion. Tsuna was rendered incapacitated.

"Not bad. You are still in one piece after taking direct hit from my Grand Chariot." "Jellal" remarked seeing his fallen body. "You won't be that lucky next time."

Just when "Jellal" walked away from where Tsuna was. He sensed an incoming attack which he took it at ease.

"Eh? To think you can still fight my idiotic disciple…" "Jellal" clenched his fist flaring with his magic power. Facing him was Natsu who just managed to get there. "Seems like I had underestimated you. I thought you had lost your magic power and won't be able to come here like Ultear said you will."

"So what if it is me?" Natsu growled at him in fury. "And what did you call me? Do you have any nickname any worse than this? I even have people who called me a tool, you fake."

"Oh. I see that you know the truth about me? If that's the case, I shan't say any further, let's get straight to the point. Not even the real Jellal had fought you in real battle. So let me, as a fake have the honour to challenge you."

With that, Natsu battled the fake Jellal. They were observing one another. "Jellal" was well aware that Natsu was much more experienced than Tsuna in his moves but he was just playing with him. Natsu aimed a kick on his jaw which "Jellal" dodged at ease. He was smirking when Natsu tried his might roaring a torrent of fire at him. "Jellal" leapt up to the air with his Heavenly Body Magic.

Natsu realized that his magic were exactly the same as the real Jellal. Jellal have not really trained him in magic himself hence he was not aware of his real power as a mage. Even so, Natsu was not confident of defeating a Wizard Saint level mage but in order to protect his younger brother and change his fate, he had to do it. He would give his all. As an elder brother to Tsuna, this was as much as he could do.

"Jellal" sighed as he noted the fire flaring on both of his fists. "You are indeed an idiot. Even your S Class younger brother who is more powerful is not my match. It's much safer for you to dig a hole and hide yourself so that you can live longer. But it is too late. I'm going to take you out here!"

In an instant, "Jellal" leapt to the air he summoned Grant Chariot hitting Natsu repeatedly creating waves of explosion to show off his power. Natsu screamed in pain when the lights hit him directly and he collapsed. Is that it for him? Why was he so weak? Can't he do something to change his brother's fate? He groaned in frustration. The poison in his body was acting up again. Natsu bit his lip in great pain.

Tsuna thought he saw himself fighting with his Teacher in daze. "Told you. I'm strong." He smirked as he watched the figure battling "Jellal". He gradually became awake. He saw that person crashing down near him. Tsuna realized that it was his twin brother who had been battling him when he was out cold. He watched "Jellal" walking around inspecting the damage of the tower after he was done with Natsu.

"Damn. I must have gone overboard. It would be dangerous to damage the Tower any further. The magic power is starting to leak out. I need to guard it until Ultear comes here with the sacrifice." "Jellal" muttered to himself.

Tsuna just got a great idea. Trembling, he struggled to pick up pieces of Lacrima and threw at "Jellal" who was wondering what he was up to. After throwing a few pieces, one of them finally hit him. Tsuna chuckled.

"That attack hit." He struggled to get up. "So breaking this Tower or was it called Lacrima. That's bad right?" "Jellal's" eyes widened in horror. He had heard him.

"Rotten luck for you!" Tsuna gathered enough strength and landed a punch right on the ground causing it to crack.

"Stop it!" "Jellal" shrieked. He would not be able to complete his mission if the Tower was destroyed.

"Guess what? Destroying things is my specialty. Not even my brother knows this. The damage I caused is much greater than my brother!" Tsuna stood up as he looked at his brother who was shaking from pain.

"Brother, you just watch my battle. I had witnessed your battle with this bastard. You were great! No wonder he wanted to take you in as his disciple. Leave the rest to me." The flame on Tsuna's fist rekindled. "I'm now more fired up than ever!"

"Jellal" was really flared up this time. "You little brat! I will make sure you regret standing up again!"


	18. Chapter 18: The Broken Chain of Destiny

**I feel sadistic to be torturing our poor Natsu.**

* * *

**Chapter 18: The Broken Chain of Destiny**

Tsuna challenged "Jellal" once more. "Jellal" was really infuriated. He swore to make him regret standing up again.

Meanwhile, the girl lying unconscious stirred. She opened her eyes slowly. "Jellal?" She murmured. She gradually picked herself up. She was shocked to see Tsuna battling her dear Jellal. The ground trembled due to their clashes in battle. Erza watched on. Looking around, she found the salmon-haired figure lying across her and her eyes scanned to where Tsuna was.

"Natsu?" Erza cried out. He must be defeated by Jellal. How can he hurt Natsu who is weak in magic power? Tsuna will not take this lying down. But wait. Her Jellal will never do that. He is supposed to protect the weak and innocent. Erza watched the duo in confusion. She noticed that Tsuna had been destroying the structure of the Tower intentionally.

Tsuna movement had improved from before. He could almost get a hang of his Teacher's speed. Using all his senses, he tried to sense where his Teacher would attack next.

"Over there! Fire Dragon's Roar!" It almost hit but "Jellal" vanished on time and reappeared right behind Tsuna charging him from his back. Tsuna screamed in pain. He staggered and balanced himself, bracing for his incoming waves of lights. He dodged. "Jellal" sent him another attack which Tsuna ran at him blocking it heads-on. He managed to repel taking "Jellal" by surprise.

"Brilliant Braze of Fire Dragon!" Tsuna yelled. Before "Jellal" could react, explosion occurred around him. He watched while the Lacrima erupted with the magic power leaking all over. Tsuna landed to the ground on a knee sneering him feeling proud of his work.

"Jellal" clenched his fist in anger. "How dare you? How dare you try to destroy the Tower I'm guarding?"

Tsuna chuckled. "What a shame? I said before. Destroying things are my specialty. "

Erza realized Tsuna could barely stand.

"You won't get away with this!" "Jellal" was seen crossing his arms above his head. He was really pissed off. He prepared to cast one of his strongest spell which Tsuna had not seen before.

"What is this magic power? It's making me sick." Tsuna commented blocking himself from the gust of wind created from the spell "Jellal" was casting. Erza realized he was trying to cast that.

"Oh no, this magic is…" Erza widened her eyes in fear.

"Fall into the depth of darkness, you damn disciple!" The shadows are drawn towards "Jellal", forming a small black orb which rapidly grows in size. As he prepared to fire point-blank at Tsuna, a figure appeared.

"JELLAL!"

"Will you kill me as well?" Erza appeared in front of Tsuna with her arms wide.

"Dear?" "Jellal" gasped.

Flashes of memories flowed through his mind. His trip with Erza to watch the sunset.

_"That's a promise. We will come here again once I return from my mission." Jellal was delighted that Erza was giving him a chance, he was willing to climb no matter how high the mountain was._

_Erza offered her hand to Jellal who took it despite his fear of height. "That is a promise!" With that, they shook their hands as a pledge of their promise by the sunset._

"Jellal" was mumbling to himself. "That isn't me. That is Jellal. And Erza is his wife not mine. Why did I see this memory now? Why do I feel so upset?" "Jellal" did not understand this "feeling" he had. He became very worked up and frustrated. He continued building up magic power on the orb he created.

"Erza, move!" Tsuna pleaded her. He was the one who provoked "Jellal" not her so he should be the one facing the consequences.

"You have nothing to fear. I will protect you. After this, take Natsu and leave." Erza smiled feeling proud that she could play the role of the wife of her Teacher except that his Teacher would be the one she was protecting him from.

"Stop it!" Tsuna yelled.

"Shut up! All of you shall die together! Heavenly Body Magic: Altairis!" "Jellal" unleashed the orb towards them.

"Erza!" Tsuna cried. Erza thought she saw a figure standing in front of her. The trio watched as the attack hit and the explosion occurred.

Both Erza and Tsuna realized that they were unharmed from the attack. How on earth? The smoke cleared and they realized someone else had taken the hit for them. They were shocked.

"I'm glad that I made it on time." The boy muttered as he staggered backwards and collapsed.

"Still crawling around here. You idiot! You should have stayed down." "Jellal" jeered at him.

"Natsu! Brother!" They cried in unison. Erza and Tsuna ran to his side.

"Why are you so foolish, Brother?" If it was not that his brother was critically injured from "Jellal's" attack, he would have reprimanded him hard. Natsu coughed as he tried to answer him. "Because… you are my younger brother, I can't let anything bad happen to you." Natsu began to cough out blood. Tsuna's eyes widened in fear for the worst. He noticed the extent of damages he had received because of him. He regretted having insulted him by saying that he would never master his magic even if he worked himself to death, thinking that he should just come under his protection because he was stronger. He witnessed his fight and he was impressed by his brother as a mage. That was how he was able to support him all these years.

"Brother! I'm sorry for saying those hurtful words to you. He brushed his brother hair patting his head. You will be fine. I'm taking you to the Sky Sorceress. I bet she is around since you are here." Tsuna prepared to carry his brother but Natsu shook his head.

"NO… "Natsu choked in his blood and he was finding hard to breathe as he stuttered. "I'm supposed… to be dead. I was… given… another chance… to live in order to change... yours and Erza's... fate. I'll… return to… where I belong. That… Jellal… is not… our Teacher. He… is a… clone. I believe… our Teacher is still… alive somewhere..." Natsu raised his hand to reach for Tsuna who caught his trembling hand in an instant. He wanted to feel his face. "I…can't… see… your… face?"

Tsuna shuddered. So that was the effect of "Jellal's" attack. He was shocked. His body was breaking down. His brother had yet to fully recover from the damage he received from the Kingdom Empire incident yet he was adding on to his injuries. He did not want to believe that his brother was on his dying breath.

"Erza… please… take care… of my brother. If… you… ever… see Jellal… again, please… thank… him for… me. Thank him… for saving… my life… and… take an… idiot like me… as his disciple. I had let him down… for… not being…able to… master my magic... I had… been… embarrassing… him. I… wish both… of… you… happiness…" Natsu was gasping hard for air.

"Don't speak. It's going to be alright." Erza had been wiping off blood which was flowing out profusely from the side of his mouth and patting his head to try and calm the boy down.

"Tsuna…" Natsu forced a weak smile at the thought of the Celestial mage he was so fond of. "Please… don't bug… Lu…cy… anymore. I'm the… one you… wish to challenge… Your… brother… is a… coward… who just… won't… admit… he likes… Lucy…. "

_"So my brother likes Lucy? Lucy likes my brother too?" _Tsuna could not react in this situation. Even his naïve and innocent elder brother can fall in love. Why telling him this only now? He looked down when Natsu's hand was released from his and fell limp at his side with his eyes closed.

"Brother?" He shook him. "Brother, please open your eyes!" Tsuna noticed that tears were flowing down from the corner of his closed eyes down his pale cheek.

"NO! Natsu, please don't." Erza cried. Her tears fell heavily. She had wanted to protect the twins.

"Ahahaha! That's why I call him an idiot. As expected from his dim-witted disciple. Can't you see that only idiot like him court his own death?" "Jellal" started to mock Natsu on his stupidity.

Tsuna appeared before him punching him with great strength sending him flying across a distance before crashing down against a Lacrima.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN IDIOT?! You are not allowed to impersonate as my Teacher and speak ill about my dearest brother using his face. My Teacher had never given up on him even though he can never master his magic with his loss of magic power. To think you use his face to tarnish his reputation, hurting everyone of us and even killing my brother. Because of that, I will never forgive you. I will pay any price just to defeat you. I'm not me of the past your so-called data had of!"

Tsuna was desperate. He needed more power in order to defeat him. Subconsciously, he picked up one of the broken Lacrima which was filled with the power of Etherion and started biting on it.

"Jellal" watched in astonishment as he saw Tsuna eating the Lacrima.

"Are you crazy?"


	19. Chapter 19: Retaliation and Sacrifice

**S2 is coming to the end soon and I had like only 1 review. Thank you for the only review. I thought I have no need for reviews when I was writing it but when I receive the only review I realise I wanted people to review my fic badly. **

**I thought my writing is so bad that people did not want to review but the big jump in the number of the hits I have the day before and my friend's comment proved me wrong. People are reading my fic and I really want to know your thoughts. **

* * *

**Chapter 19: Retaliation and Sacrifice**

Tsuna was crunching the Lacrima desperately. The magic power from the surrounding Etherion was attracted towards him.

"Do you think you can defeat me with the power of Etherion?" "Jellal" shouted at the mage who was grabbing his throat in pain. He was aware that he was taking a great risk by absorbing the power of Etherion but if he could stand the pain during the process, he would be able to gain additional power, way more powerful than the element of fire which he and his brother was in tune to. He had read a book about it when he was a kid. Etherion comprised of magic powers from various elements.

"I can't lose. I can't lose to the magic power of Etherion! I need its power!" He rolled on the ground. He could not afford to lose for the sake of everyone and his twin brother. With sheer determination, Tsuna managed to blend his magic with the power of Etherion. His body was burning with fire and dragon scales were forming on his cheek. An incarnation of a fire dragon appeared before him.

"Magic of Double Dragon." Tsuna growled. This was the same magic he used when he battled Master Zero of the Kingdom Empire with the help of the Flame of Rebuke. All of a sudden, he lunged at "Jellal" giving him a kick on his chest. Tsuna continued his attack on him not giving him a chance to breathe.

"Jellal" sped away jumping to the air but Tsuna was faster. He grabbed him by his throat planning to crush him to the ground.

"Because of your existence, our peaceful days are disrupted. Because of you, my brother was… I had been waiting for him. He had been depressed over the loss of his magic power. It was my Teacher who took him out of it but it had to be you to throw him back to the depth of despair. I'm waiting for the day when he will smile from his heart again. He had never truly smiled since he woken up from his coma. I know it because we are twin brothers!"

Tsuna recalled standing outside Natsu's hospital room once when he returned after sending off the healer. He saw him curling up on his bed weeping to himself. Natsu did not want people to see his weak side as much as possible so he chose to stand clear. Tsuna told himself he needed to stay strong for his brother. He truly regretted his decision several years ago after the catastrophic event which changed their lives.

"Jellal" broke free from Tsuna clutches before he hit the ground. He soared to the air. He could not lose yet. He needed to fulfil the task entrusted to him. "I can't lose to the likes of you whose power is below Erza. I'm Jellal with the strength of a Wizard Saint! In order to save this world, I will revive the dark mage who will rule over the world!"

Bits and pieces of Tsuna's past evoked in his mind. There was an image of a mage in black who held deadly power standing over a heap of dead bodies, his mother's limp hand and an image of young Natsu trembling in fear. Tsuna recalled his mother's words before she died. He could never forget that day for his memory was not sealed like his brother's was. The dark mage he was referring to was Zeref! Tsuna realised in horror.

***Flashback***

_Young Tsuna crawled to his dying mother who left him an important mission. She brushed his hair as she spoke her last words to him._

_"I had sealed Zeref. However, if he ever awakens, Tsuna, you must destroy him. If not, the world will plunge into darkness. You must do it! And…"_

***End Flashback***

"I can't lose."Giving up" doesn't exist in my dictionary. I will show you my strongest magic as a farewell gift to my genius disciple!" "Jellal" wrote a magic circle very swiftly locking on Tsuna.

"Farewell, my disciple!" "Jellal" declared. All the sudden a sharp pain ran across his body. His magic circle was cancelled and he fell from the sky.

"How?" He was stunned. When did he get this injury? It was inflicted by a dark magic._ "It was not him, neither it was from Erza. Could he be?" _Jellal" widened his eyes as he recalled the boy who was likely to have given him this damage. He remembered his eyes were blank for a short while and "Jellal" had underestimated him by not dodging his initial attack before he faced him. He came to a realisation.

"I see." He smirked. It seemed that he had fulfilled his purpose. The rest was up to them.

"What did you say? Did you intend to resurrect Zeref to destroy the world? I will not lose to a scumbag like you!" Tsuna charged at "Jellal". Tsuna's flame erupted into a form of a dragon incarnation crushing "Jellal" from high up from the sky finishing him off.

He gave a fierce glare at the fallen form of "Jellal" when he landed on the ground. Erza was speechless. That was a power of Jellal's disciple and his famous power of the Double Dragon.

Tsuna and Erza were stiffened when they heard a voice rang. It was "Jellal". _"Damn! Can he still stand?" _Tsuna and Erza watched the fallen figure standing up within the smoke. "This is just as planned by my Master. The plan is in motion now and nobody can stop it. He let out a maniacal laughter before disappearing into a puff of smoke.

Tsuna could no longer stand. He had collapsed from exhaustion. He had used up too much magic including the power of Etherion to battle "Jellal". Explosion occurred around them. The tower was collapsing from the damages caused from the battles. The Etherion within Tower would explode anytime wiping them out if they did not get out fast.

Erza saw the fallen boys. She would not be able to get the both of them out at once. She would not bear to leave anyone of them. Erza punched the ground in frustration. What could she do to get them out safely?

* * *

In a distance outside the Tower, Gray, Lucy and Happy were waiting outside watching the Tower collapsing in phases.

"What is the status inside? Will Natsu and the rest be ok?" Lucy asked Gray in worriedly.

"If the explosion were to occur, all of us will perish." Gray replied honestly. He read about the power of Etherion which can wipe out an area in instant.

"Natsu, Tsuna, please be safe." Happy cried out.

* * *

Erza saw her reflection through the Lacrima. She recalled the words from Jellal. She was sure that she had met the real Jellal before she ended up here. If he was right, perhaps she could try her luck.

She dipped her hand into the Lacrima. She was prepared to sacrifice herself as the vessel to stop the explosion. "Good! It's accepting me." She was shocked when Tsuna called out to her. He had regained his consciousness.

"What are you doing Erza?" He asked in confusion. "Why are you forcing yourself into the Lacrima?" That was when he realised what she was doing. "Stop it, Erza!" He struggled to stand up and get to her but he was too weak to stand. Tsuna crawled to Erza's side. By then, half of her body was submerged in the Lacrima.

Erza placed her hand on his hand to console him. "I was your Master's wife. It's my role to protect my ex-husband's disciple. Tsuna, take Natsu and leave. I have no choice. I will be ashamed to see him if this place is to explode killing you in it. Please pass Natsu's message to him and help me apologise for not being able to keep our promise."

"Why don't you tell him yourself?" Tsuna asked Erza in denial.

"You will understand in time to come." Erza murmured and she became fully submerged into the body of Lacrima. She could barely hear Tsuna who was banging on the surface of the Lacrima shouting for her. That was when her world turned white.

* * *

She wondered how long had passed when she blinked and opened her eyes again. _"What was going on?"_ She looked around in her shock, Tsuna carried her on his arms.

"Tsuna?" She called his name. He had managed to find her in the vortex of the magic power.

"Please don't do that again. I don't want to lose anyone close to me again." Tsuna cried yelling at her while looking out at the remnant of the collapsed Tower. He had made a painful decision. In order to save Erza, he had chosen to leave Natsu's body in the Tower.

Tears welled up her eyes. If she was safe, someone must have sacrificed in her place. She recalled the only person who could have done it.

"Jellal…"


	20. Chapter 20: The Destined Future

**I'm coming to the end of S2. Initially I had doubt over this setting at the end till an image appeared affirming my decision. It's funny as whenever I have doubts with my setting, some official images will show up giving me the green light. **

**Have anyone noticed all the scenes from Natsu's dream in chapter 10 had finally come together.**

**Please read & review. Reviews serve a motivation to writers after all ;)**

******The next chapter is a special chapter featuring the mask mage, Mystogan. **Until next time.

* * *

**Chapter 20: The Determined Future**

**X786**

Erza travelled alone in twilight somewhere. She was off from her mission that day. Hence she could spare the time. She climbed to the top of the mountain where she could clearly see the sunset. The scenery in front of her was the same. If only the people around her remained the same.

***Flashback***

_"That's a promise. We will come here again once I return from my mission."_

_Erza offered her hand to Jellal who took it despite his fear of height._

_"That is a promise!"_

***End Flashback***

"Jellal!" She shouted up from the mountain. Her voice echoes in the air.

It had been six months since the incident at the Tower of Heaven. There was no news of his body being found. Deep in her heart, she still held some hope that her Jellal was still alive somewhere.

She sat curling up in front of a huge rock where both of them often sat while watching the sunset. Tears flowed down her cheek as she covered her mouth. She was crying really hard. She realised how much she missed him. Her scarlet hair waved along with the wind

Gray watched her from a distance. He could not believe that a Wizard Saint like Jellal was gone. All he could do was to watch over her for him.

_"Damn Jellal. I'm going to challenge you if you ever return like Tsuna did before the incident."_Come to think of it, Tsuna had stopped talking about challenging him since the incident. One important point Gray was aware of. He knew that even if Jellal was alive, he was not able to show himself in public for he was now a wanted fugitive.

* * *

S Class healing mage, Wendy Marvell had recently joined Fairy Tail together with her Exceed friend, Charles.

Six months ago, during the Battle in the Tower of Heaven, she traveled in search of Brain and Cobra. On her way, she was unwittingly captured by the rune knights dispatched by the Magic Council and was subsequently charged of the crime for conspiring with Natsu Dragion to break the prisoner, Brain out of the Prison which she pleaded guilty for. However, for some reason, she was deemed to be not guilty. The Magic Council decided to press all the charges against Natsu Dragion and had issued a warrant of arrest to apprehend him. Wendy was said to have no involvement at all.

Wendy tried to file an appeal but she was rejected. She was aware that it was her healing ability which saved her. This was when Wendy realised how corrupted the Council really was and she decided to leave. She joined Fairy Tail which Natsu was originally from.

Everyone in Fairy Tail welcomed them in open arms. They were excited and honoured to have the youngest S Class mage to join them. Wendy was overwhelmed by the warm loving guild. That was something which did not exist in the Magic Council which advocated discipline.

_"This guild is just like Natsu-san had described. Full of warmth and laughter. "_ Wendy beamed in delight.

Happy who happened to return from a mission with Tsuna noticed the presence of the white exceed. He fell in love with Charles at first sight.

Wendy believed that Jellal was still alive somewhere. She joined Fairy Tail in hope that she would meet him one day. A masked man passed by and noticed the newbie from the top. He turned away and disappeared into the thin air.

* * *

Makarov was seen sitting at the roof of the guild watching the sunset. He had since recovered and had heard about everything which had happened from the masked mage, Mystogan. He was worried for what was going to happen next as everything had connected. He recalled what Tsuna's mother had told him nine years ago. Can the world escape from destruction?

"I'm sorry for not able to take care of your sons." He sighed at the thought of the smile of Natsu who had perished in the Tower of Heaven.

* * *

Yajima had also left the Magic Council, fully focusing on his restaurant business. Looking up at the evening sky, he recalled the short time he had with Natsu. He was shocked to hear that he gave his life to save Erza and Tsuna. Was this the purpose of giving him a second chance in life?

* * *

As for Lucy, she had been depressed over Natsu's death. Not just Jellal's, his body had not been found. Lucy often found herself crying in her room. Perhaps everything was destined and they were not meant to be. Lucy had promised Natsu that she would seek for her happiness and she would do it. At the very least, there was no regret as they had been honest with their feelings to the end.

* * *

Tsuna had matured after the incident but he was still reckless some times. He had paid a huge price after all. He had been very active in taking on missions. As Fireball, Tsuna he would always complete his mission fast and swift if not Ciel would get angry at him for getting home late.

That day was different. Leaving Happy who was trying to please Charles at the moment to inform Ciel on his movement, Tsuna went alone on a journey.

Nine years since the catastrophic event that changed his and Natsu's lives. He returned to his deserted homeland, Drago Village. The village had been snowing all year round and had not stopped since the incident.

Nine years ago, he had a quarrel with Natsu and left in a huff and he escaped the massacre when the Dark Mage Zeref awakened.

***Flashback***

_He was horrified by the time he returned to the village which was bathed in blood. His village was under attack. Not a single person from the village was spared. Tsuna's legs were shaking in fear when he reached home. He could never forget the scene where he found almost everyone in the clan lying in pool of blood._

_His eyes were scanning everywhere for survivors and widened in horror when he saw his dying mother who struggled to use the remaining of her power to preserve the life of Natsu who had his throat slit lying in the pool of blood before collapsing from her injuries._

_"Mother… " He managed to get his words out when he crawled to her side shakily. The mother was glad to see him before she leave this world, and was relieved that at least he was safe from harm. She placed her bloody hands on his face urging him to listen to her final words carefully._

_"Tsuna, listen to me." She begged the boy with her weak voice. "This is really important. I had sealed Zeref. However, if he ever awaken, Tsuna, you must destroy him. If not, the world will plunge into darkness. You must do it!"_

_"And I will leave Natsu to your care. Even though you are the younger brother, you must take care of him as long as he lives. He is fated to have a harsher life than you. I had sealed the power he had inherited. He will not suffer as long he does not recover his memory." His mother fell limp when she saw Tsuna nodding his head in tears._

_He yelled in despair._

_He was not sure how long had passed before the Master of Fairy Tail Makarov found him and his twin brother when he came in search of survivors. He took them to Porlyusica's place to heal up. It was a miracle for Natsu to have survived having his throat slit back then. That was a result from his mother's love for him. A scar was left on his throat. Natsu was scared stiff when he first awaken after the incident. He could not even recognize any of them not even Tsuna._

_***End Flashback***_

Makarov had invited the twins to join Fairy Tail but Tsuna had declined his offer. Their lives would be in danger should the enemies know they were both alive. For the same reason, the brothers changed their family names to from Dragneel to Dragion. This was a secret between him, Makarov and Porlyusica. He was relieved that he did not share this secret with his Teacher. He could not imagine what could have happened if the secret including the existence of Zeref was made known to his clone .

Tsuna had wanted to let go of the past and moved on with his life. A brand new life with a different side of himself. He thought it was best for Natsu to stay in Fairy Tail where he would be well taken care of and have him take up his responsibility as an elder brother. He truly regretted his decision after the incident with Kingdom Empire which landed his brother in coma. That was when he made up his mind to master magic and became an S Class mage so that he could have the power to protect those close to him.

Even so, he could not protect his brother. His mother was right that Natsu would have a harsher life than him. He felt really useless for not obeying his mother's dying wish to take good care of his brother when he was alive. He had overheard his mother's conversation with Makarov that his twin would die young. Tsuna believed that Natsu was finally liberated from all the suffering he had been enduring this far. He could not even locate his body. Let him be one with the ocean.

Tsuna laughing at himself. Why didn't he realize earlier that his twin brother was in love with his sister-in-law? He would have challenged him on-on-one if he want to win Lucy's hand. It was really ironic that the said guy Lucy was involved with was the innocent brother of his.

He had a new goal in life with "Jellal's"words echoed in his mind. Someone was trying to revive the Dark Mage Zeref and he was set to destroy him in the name of Dragneel. It was his duty as the successor of his mother, Elie Dragneel, who was also one of the former Wizard Saints. He was born with greater power than his twin having inherited most of the power his mother possessed except for one which was troubling him: the power to get a glimpse of future events: precognition .

* * *

On the other hand, the former lieutenant of Jellal, Pantherlily had left the Magic Council to investigate the dark guild involved in Jellal's disappearance and was injured from the ambush by the enemy. He was subsequently rescued by a man in mask who was known as Mystogan. He was a member of Fairy Tail.

The man removed his mask and revealed his face to Pantherlily. Pantherlily was shocked to realise his saviour was none other than Jellal who was missing all these while. Jellal needed his assistance for the upcoming missions.

Jellal who had the ""Magic Circle of Dissemination" drawn on him, was unable to move after the blast from the Etherion that day. He was found by his other self, Mystogan who had been searching for him since his disappearance. Jellal had been cautious in his action most of the time. Being a Wizard Saint had given him the license to create a double for himself just in case.

He sent his double to Fairy Tail as a cover to collect information which an official in the Magic Council like him would not be able to obtain. His double, Mystogan had zero magic power. Despite that Jellal was capable enough to enable his double to become an S Class mage with the use of just magic tools. That was what he had wanted to teach Natsu. He had not been a competent Teacher to Natsu. This was his greatest regret. He had since become one with Mystogan and he would be living as Mystogan from then on.

Jellal can no longer return to the Magic Council for what had happened. He had become a fugitive and he would not be able to defend himself even if he was to turn himself in. For now, he had more important things to take care of; to annihilate the dark guild, Grimiore Heart as well as to destroy Zeref who was resurrected and he would pay any price to do that.

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere in the world, the airship of one of the most powerful dark guilds existed Grimoire Heart were heading somewhere above the dark stormy cloud. A man in shadow was having a discussion with one of the members who was looking out at the dark sky from the bridge

"You had done well, Ultear. The ritual to resurrect him is running well with the right vessel on hand." The voice of the man was heard. He was seen to be sitting on his throne having his drink.

"Thanks for the compliment. I was just lucky that the pawns just danced on my palm on the way I had want them to. Thanks to them, we are able to purge the kid of his magic power and obtain his body. In any case, the boy was in critical condition. His body was submerged in the Lacrima filled with Etherion for too long and the poison in his body is working. As a result, he can no longer wake up again for the rest of his life being condemned in vegetative state. Instead of that, he might as well become the vessel of our lord. " Ultear turned to face her Master.

"I'm really surprised that the boy will sacrifice himself to stop the leaking and explosion of the Etherion. He sure had some guts as I believe the news you had leaked was that you need a vessel with the power of a Wizard Saint to be able to stop it." The Master remarked taking a sip of his wine.

"Not quite. The boy was attracted to the Lacrima as it was a form of an antidote to ease his pain and in turn he saved those idiots." Ultear explained.

"That was not an issue. Nine years ago, thanks to the interference by Elie Dragneel, I was unable to obtain Zeref. But now, it is my dream is finally coming to fruition. It was said that she had a pair of twins but it seemed that they were killed on that fateful day. It will spell trouble if that pair of Dragneel twins was alive. We shall destroy the light guilds including Fairy Tail with his power." The man continued.

"Congratulation to you, Master Hades." Ultear smirked.

* * *

In a dark room of the airship, the ritual for the resurrection of the Dark Mage was completed. A boy in black with black hair was seen awakening from his slumber and he was in a daze.

The very first words that he managed to utter was, "Lucy…".


	21. Special Chapter: The Unknown Secret of M

**This is a gag as I had always find Mystogan a funny character when he first appeared in the 2****nd**** OAD. **

**"ANIMA!"**

**This is the last chapter for S2. **

**Reviews are always appreciated. Thanks for the support. Let's see if I can start S3 next week. I'm trying to take it easy. **

* * *

**Special Chapter: The Unknown Secret of Mystogan**

A double of a mage can be created by the mage himself. It could only be done by a mage high in magic power.

However, there was some problem. The double of the mage was different in personality in contrast to his original version. It could be said the true personality of the mage was reflected on the double.

Mystogan was on a journey in search for his original self who had disappeared. He knew he was alive somewhere as he still existed. On his way to the next destination, he took a break under the tree. He was feeling lonely yet excited for he was free of his control. He saw a carton resting nearby where he was resting. There he found his love: red apples. Mystogan was touched.

In an instant he materialized where the carton was. He was excited. Picking up the apple he started to bite on it very quickly. Because of Jellal, he had forgotten to buy his apples that day. He would be missing something if he was deprived of them.

Little did he expect that someone had to interrupt him when he was enjoying the love of his life.

"Thief!" An old lady with pink hair shouted taking her broom with her swinging at Mystogan who dodged on time. He was startled as this was not the first time he took other people's apples and not paying for it in contrast to Jellal who was always pay up. This was the first time he saw someone so worked up over the theft of apples. He was glad that he was wearing a mask so no one could see his current expression. He needed to stay calm.

The fragrant smell coming from his beloved was lingering by his nose tempting him. He was going to take another bite when the old lady barked at him, "Still trying to eat what you had stolen? As expected from those who was unable to face others by putting on a mask. "

"Your apples are really sweet. Can I have another one?" Mystogan walked up to her and asked seemingly not affected by her words.

"I hate man who only like to sweet talk others in order to get what he wants just like that old man and the two boys back then. Clear up the mess once you are done eating. " The old lady ordered pointing at his back. She had given him her permission for an additional apple. Mystogan picked an apple up in happiness.

It was really unbelievable that he was the representation of the other side of Jellal. What Mystogan did not notice was, the mess she was referring to was the flags of the dark guilds he had thrashed over the time when he was fishing information from them. He was too obsessed with his apples! Imagine what would happen if Jellal learnt of this.

This was the meeting between the masked mage, Mystogan and the pink-haired elderly healer, Porlyusica whom he would be visiting very often in future in order to gain information related to the Zeref.

And most importantly for the sake of his beloved apples.


End file.
